My Beautiful Release
by Rosemarie Alanna Ann Belikov
Summary: Dimitri Belikov was banished to Earth almost four years ago and while walking down an alley he finds a baby in behind a bar. He takes her to his house, and decides to keep her. He worries about being able to raise her, hoping that he won't damage her in more ways then one. And as she gets older, his emotions become more then just those of a father.
1. Chapter 1

**The Year 1905**

**DPOV**

"Sir we must do something about this."

"I know, Brand, it's just... if I did decide to do this... would I be good at it?"

"Good at what?"

"Taking care of a human being." I say as I look down at the little child, baby is the proper word; she can't be older than six months, sleeping in a basket. "How would I do it? I would never be able to raise a child. You know me."

"Yes, for many years now sir, and because I know you, I know that you would be a great guardian to this little girl. You found a little baby girl in this basket in an alley on your way home and you took her here, because you cared about her health and safety. You care, you have more emotion then you think you do. Sir, if she goes to an orphanage who knows what would happen to her. Any man or any woman could take her; do anything they wish to her."

I watch the little girl. I can't let that happen. I know the things men will do to smaller children. Especially girls. How could her parents just leave her behind a bar? This little baby girl is beautiful. Truly beautiful. No one will touch her.

"Have you decided sir? What you want to do with her."

"I'll keep her." I say as I rise from my seat and put my hands on the baby's side. I lift her up from the basket and hold her in my arms. She watches me for a moment and then smiles at me. On her head is a messy mop of dark colored hair. She's pale, which I assume is from being so cold out in the alley, and she has beautiful brown eyes. How could anyone give her up? "I'm keeping her."

"I think you made the right decision, Sir. Would you like for me to throw the basket away, or put it in the attic?"

"Attic." I answer. He nods and then walks over to the basket. He looks down into it and then reaches inside. "What?"

"Inside the basket, this was in here."

"What is it?"

"A piece of rosemary." He shows it to me and I watch it, then the child. "What are you thinking, Sir? You have that expression on."

"I'm thinking about her name... I think I shall call her Rosemarie. Rose for short."

Brand nods and then takes the basket to the attic. While he does that I sit back down with Rosemarie still in my arms and stare at her. "Sir?" I look up as my maid, Vera, walks into the room. "Brand told you have you decided to keep the child." I nod. "Would you like me to get the crib that my daughter had when she was a baby? I can bring it in and keep her in my room, so that if she cries in the night I can take immediate care of her?"

"I would like if you bring the crib, but I would like for it to be in my room." I say as I continue to stare down at Rosemarie. "I don't know why I am so attracted to her, but I don't want her to be far from me."

"Would you need me to teach you how to take care of her? How to change her, bathe her, feed her?"

"I would enjoy that, thank you, Vera." She nods and then leaves the room. The little girl's small hand takes a lock of my shoulder length hair and gently pulls on it. I smile and take my hair from her. She's strong. For another twenty minutes or so I sit in the chair, holding her warm. I also think about what harm I could do to this little girl, this innocent little girl. Will I raise her properly or will I damage her? Will I be able to treat her the way a child should, give her the attention, the love?

Vera walks back into the room. "I asked my husband to bring the crib, it should be here shortly."

"Thank you, Vera."

"Would you like me to show you how to feed her?" I nod and stand up. The three of us go into the kitchen in my Victorian house and she shows me how to prepare a bottle for Rosemarie. After that she shows me the proper way to feed her. By the time we were done Vera's husband had brought the crib and I had Brand take it up to my bedroom, the master bedroom. "She will need to be bathed tonight. I will show you how to do that as will since I will not always be able to do it."

The three of us head upstairs to the bathroom and Vera starts up the water in the sink after plugging it. "Why not the bathtub?" I ask her. Vera smiles and takes Rosemarie from my arms. She gently sets her down on the counter and begins to undress her.

"She is far too small to bathe in the tub; the sink is the perfect size for her, for most babies." Rosemarie is now completely undressed. Vera picks her up and sets her down in the sink. "When cleaning her you must be very gentle with her, her skin is much more fragile than ours is. Especially yours." I nod as she picks up a cloth. She rubs some soap onto it and then gently rubs it over Rosemarie's shoulders, then her chest. I watch as she cleans her. Rosemarie giggles when Vera cleans her hair. "Be very careful when doing her hair; don't get any into her eyes." I nod, taking the information in. For the rest of the night Vera teaches me how to take care of Rosemarie. I take Rosemarie to the bedroom after Vera changed her into one of her daughter's old baby dresses. Her crib is set next to my bed. I carefully set her down and pull the blanket over her. As I pull back my hand she grabs my finger and makes a little sound. I look into her little eyes and feel as if she's saying thank you. I don't think she even knows what I've done for her. After a moment she lets go of my finger and I change into my night clothes before getting into bed, under the plush covers.

_"Do it."_

_"No!" I spat out as I stand in the throne room. "No, I will not hurt anymore people!"_

_"What will a few more do Dimitri? Huh?"_

_"I refuse to hurt anymore people." I tell him as I square off my shoulders and ball my hands into fists. "I ruined that family."_

_"Why all of a sudden do you care? Is it because that family reminded you of your own, before what happened happened? That's it isn't it?" I don't answer. "Dimitri, you are my right-hand man... you are the best I have ever had be by my side. Don't ruin it now because you have a weak spot for family."_

_"I refuse to hurt anyone anymore. I will not do it. I've hurt too many people, too many... I will not do it anymore." He rises from his throne and walks down to me, slowly._

_"Refuse is a powerful word. Dimitri... I can no longer have you here if you refuse to do as I say."_

_"I know," I tell him._

_"Are you prepared to face the consequences of your actions?"_

_I nod. "I am, kill me."_

_"Oh," he chuckles. "That is not what I will do to you. I won't let you off that easily. No, I will not kill you, I'll do worse. I banish you to the above world. I banish you there so that you can live out countless years, centuries, of heartache, you will forever remember what happened to your family. What you've done to people. You will never be at peace." Before I can do anything he strikes out. His right arm connects with the middle of my chest and I lose all of the air in my lungs. My vision goes black and then I feel water on me. When I open my eyes I'm staring up at a dark and cloudy sky. Rain is pouring onto my body. I sit up, feeling tired, like I have no energy. I manage to rise to my feet and look around me. I am no longer in the underworld, no longer in hell. I am living in the human world, the world I once lived in._

_"No," I pant out, lungs filling back up with air. "No." My knees buckle underneath me and I fall down onto the ground. "No!" I look back up into the sky and begin to cry. "NO!"_

A cry awakens me. I sit up in my bed and look down at the crib besides my bed. I get out and take Rosemarie out of her crib. Nothing is wrong with her, she doesn't want anything to eat, she doesn't need to be changed, and she's already been washed. What does she need? As I think about it I sit down in my bed, holding her.

"Shh, calm down Rosemarie... you are alright... you are just fine... I'm here. I'm here and I'm never going to let you go."


	2. Chapter 2

**The Year 1905 **

**A Month after Taking in Rosemarie**

"It won't be long now before she's talking." Vera says as she walks into the living room where I am playing with Rosemarie. She's giggling as I play peek-a-boo with her. I remember my mother used to play it with me when I was a child. When I got older and saw her playing it with my sisters I had no idea how she could do it for so long, until now. I could do this for hours as long as I could see her smiling face. I look up at Vera.

"When did your children begin to speak?" I ask as I rise from the ground. I pick Rosemarie up from the ground and begin to walk to the kitchen.

"Around one, my daughters spoke earlier then my sons did. But I think that's just because girls mature faster than boys do."

"That's probably true in more ways than one." I say as I set her down on the counter. I set her favorite stuffed animal, a little black stuffed teddy-bear. She smiles and grabs its arm. Not long after giving it to her I hear it hit the ground. Vera picks it up for me as I prepare her bottle. I turn back around and pick Rosemarie up. I begin to feed her and she places her hands onto the bottle.

I can't believe it's been a month since I first found her in that alley. My life has changed since then. I know for a fact that I'm not perfect yet at raising her, but I know how to take care of a child now, in the way of changing and feeding her. There are a lot of things I need to learn. How to show her the right amount of love and protection without smothering her. I need to learn how to raise her the right way so that she is a well-rounded adult. After finishing up I set down the bottle and then take Rosemarie upstairs for a nap. I set her down in the crib and then leave the room. I walk down the hall and to the empty room, well it used to be empty. Now I'm creating it into a room for Rosemarie. Brand and a few others I have working on it are inside. I walk into the room and see one of the men painting the wall pink. Two of the other men are building a bed for her. While she is still small enough she will sleep in the crib, in my room. But when she gets bigger she'll sleep in the bedroom. Brand smiles when he sees me and walks over to me.

"A date has been confirmed for the painting you want done of Rosemarie and you."

"When will it be?" I ask him.

"Next week, Monday evening."

"Alright, in that case I will need to get Rosemarie a new dress." Brand raises his eyebrows. "Vera told me that I probably should since all of Rosemarie's current dresses are her daughters when they were younger. And I do think Rosemarie needs new clothes. She's getting bigger and soon she won't fit in those dresses anymore."

"Sir, if I may say, you are softening up. Ever since you took in Rosemarie you've acted differently. It's as if you've changed in a way, you aren't as cold anymore."

"Thank you?"

"It's a compliment."

"Alright, thank you."

"When would you like to go out for new dresses?"

"I don't think I want to go out, I might just have some ordered for her."

"Going out will be easier, you can go out and find what you like for her, and see if it fits and looks right on her."

"That is true. Maybe Vera could go with me and help me decide on what to get her."

"That sounds like a good idea." Brand says. "And I'm sure she'd love to do it."

"I'll ask her to do it tomorrow with us. This will be the first time Rosemarie has been out of the house since I brought her in." I hear a whine coming from the bedroom. I quickly leave the room and go to mine. I lean over the crib and see her in, moving around, upset. I reach in and pick up Rosemarie. The first thing I notice is that she's breathing hard. I place the back of my hand onto her forehead. She's a little hot. I quickly leave the bedroom and go down to the kitchen where Vera is. "Vera, Rosemarie is hotter then she normally is and breathing hard. Something's wrong."

Vera walks over to me and takes Rosemarie from my arms. Rosemarie begins to cough and Vera places her hand onto her forehead. "Well? Should I have Brand call the doctor?"

"No, she's fine."

"But she's hotter then she usually is, and she just coughed."

"Sir, this is normal with children. This happens. She will be fine. It's just a little cold that can be helped with a little bit of medicine. I have some in my bag, my daughter is in town with my grandchild and I had it in my bag because he as the same thing Rosemarie does. Rosemarie will be fine, trust me."

I don't fight her. Vera hands Rosemarie back to me and grabs her medicine. Rosemarie is given the proper amount of medicine and then I take her back upstairs. Instead of laying her down in her crib I get into bed with her and lay her down beside me. For a long time I watch her and hate every time she coughs. Her small fever is coming down. I shut my eyes for a moment and before I know it I'm asleep. It's not surprising considering I was up with her all night since she couldn't sleep. When I wake up Rose no longer has a fever and is no longer coughing. She is still breathing deeply though. That should pass though like the other things. For most of the day I stay in the bedroom with Rosemarie. She's resting on my chest and my arms are gently wrapped around her. Her small hands are gripping my shirt. I smile when she yawns. "You scared me. You really scared me."

There is a knock at the door. "Yes?" The door opens and Vera looks inside.

"How is she doing?"

"Much better, much better."

"Good, Brand told me that you wanted to get Rosemarie some new dresses. I don't think she should be going out right now, not for a few more days, so if you'd like I'd go get her some new ones."

"Thank you Vera, you know where I keep my money." She nods and leaves the bedroom.

"You're getting new dresses. Are you excited? And this Monday we are getting a painting done of the two of us. That's why you're getting new dresses." I push some of her hair back and kiss the top of her head. For a few moments we're quiet. "Brand was right, you have changed me, and before you came into my life I was cold, heartless. I have been through a lot. It's made me that way I was. And you're making me who I am today. A kinder person. I don't regret getting you that day. How could I? I know you can't talk, and I don't know how you'll be when you're older, but I do know that I'm happy with you. And I always will be happy with you."


	3. Chapter 3

**The Year 1905 **

**The Day of the Painting**

"Would you stop fussing, Rosemarie?" I hear Vera ask Rosemarie as I walk to the bathroom. I step inside and see Vera trying to put the bright red ribbon into her longer hair. Rosemarie begins to try to get away from Vera and I walk over to the two. She's dressed in a pretty black dress with a red sash around her waist.

"May I try?" I ask her. Vera hands me the ribbon and I try to put it into her hair. I remember watching my mother do this with my sisters. Rosemarie doesn't fight me like she did Vera. "There we go."

"How did... it doesn't matter, the painter is already downstairs and waiting." I pick Rosemarie up and head downstairs. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Rosemarie was fussing."

"I understand, I have two children of my own and know how they can get. So, let me get the two of you into the right position, ten we can begin." Almost twenty minutes later of re-positioning and adjusting Rosemarie and I are in the perfect position, sitting down in the chair I first sat in when I held Rosemarie in my arms. Rosemarie is sitting on my lap and my hands are on her hips, keeping her up. After a short while we all take a break and then get positioned again for the starting of the second half of painting. By the time it was finished it was late and Rosemarie was very tired, as was I. By the time we were done with dinner and putting Rosemarie into her dressing gown I was too tired to change into my own clothes, and to put Rosemarie into her crib. So I just got into bed with Rosemarie in my arms. I like sleeping with her next to me. It makes me feel like she's even safer because she isn't just next to me but in my arms. Rosemarie and I were out almost instantly.

_A scream rips from the woman's throat as her husband gets lashings to the back. I'm not doing them, but I am allowing them. _

_"Please!" The man spats out. "Please stop!" _

_I walk over to him and kneel down. I grip his chin and yank his head up. "Why should I? Huh? You didn't stop when that girl begged you. She was only eight years old when you decided to rape her." The mans wife continues to scream. "Eight years old... you are a sick bastard. Did you enjoy suffocating her? Did you enjoy as her heart stopped beating?" _

_He begins to cry. I shove him down to the ground and stand back up. Half of the people I tutored where horrible bastards who did horrible things. But the other half were innocent people who he had brought in, who he randomly chose for fun. I didn't fight him, he was my boss. I tell them man whipping him to continue but first to get a better whip. One that would shred off his skin. I walk over to his wife and bend down in front of her. _

_"Your husband is a horrible human being. And so are you for having allowed him to hurt that girl. You let him rape and kill your niece. Your flesh and blood. You deserve just as much of a punishment as he gets." Her screams become louder and higher as two more men grab her and throw her to the ground. I rise once more and watch as they are lashed. By the time they are done their backs no longer have flesh. _

_"Take them to the inferno." _

The next day's afternoon the painting has dried and Brand puts it into the frame I picked out. He then puts it up over the fireplace in the den. It looks great.

"What do you think, Rosemarie?" I ask her as I hold her in my arms. "Do you like it?"

Her hand is holding my hair. I don't mind anymore. It's comforting now. A smile moves onto her face and she points up towards the painting, at herself.

"Yes, it's you. You look amazing, Rosemarie. Did you know that you are the prettiest girl I have ever seen?" I kiss her forehead. "Ever."

I look up and see Brand smiling at the two of us. "What?" I ask him. He just continues to smile.

"You're happy. I think this is the first time I've ever seen you truly happy." Rosemarie's hands grip my hair and gently tug.

"I am happy." I tell him. "Now I'm going to go take Rosemarie out to that backyard. I want her to get some exercise." He nods and I leave the room, heading to the backyard. When I get there Rosemarie's things are already set out for us. The two of us sit down on the yard and she stands on her own, one hand on my chest. I smile. She is so close to walking, so close. I pick Rosemarie back up and then set her down, still standing; I then take a few feet back. "Come here Rosemarie... come on, walk to me."

She looks up at me with and smiles as she begins to walk to me. I grin as she does so. She looses her footing right in front of me and I catch her. "You did it!" I say as I take her into my arms and stand up. "You walked! I am so proud of you, Rosemarie!" I kiss her again and then set her back down. For a short while more I have her continue to walk to me then I take her to the little bench underneath the shade of the single tree in the backyard. I pick up a book the Vera must have put out and sit on the bench with Rosemarie on my lap. I read to her, I read multiple books to her and she seems to love them. Someone in the book has her name in it and she recognizes it. I smile and point to the name.

"Yes, Rosemarie, that's your name." She looks up at me and then points at the name. "Are you asking me what my name is? It's Dimitri. Dimitri is my name, Rosemarie." Rose looks back down at the book and then I continue to read. When it begins to get dark the two of us go back inside and eat dinner. While I eat I tell Brand and Vera about how she walked today, and how she recognized her name in the book.

"You sound just like a proud father, Sir." Brand says. I smile down at Rose and kiss her cheek.

"I am proud. So, so proud of her." Rosemarie yawns and I decide to take her to bed. I say goodnight to Brand and Vera then take her to the bedroom. I start a novel of my own as I lay in bed with Rosemarie dozing off next to me. I'm not quiet sure I hear right. I look down at Rosemarie when she speaks again. She spoke. Actual words. I sit up in the bed and take her into my arms.

"Rose, what did you say?" I ask her. She looks up at me for a moment and then smiles.

"Dimi." She says. I smile when I realize she's trying to say my name.

"Dimitri." I tell her. "Dimitri is how you say my name. Di-mi-tri." She blinks a few times and then speaks once more.

"Di-mi-tri." She says. "Dimitri."

"Yes! I can't believe it!" Brand is right. I truly am like a proud father. I am a proud father. Adoptive father.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Year 195 **

**Christmas Eve**

Rosemarie and I sit by the large Christmas tree that I had brought in a few weeks before Christmas. We decorated it with little ornaments, and tinsel, and lights. Rosemarie seems to be fascinated by it. Rosemarie is going to be such a spoiled child. She already is very spoiled. I have gotten her so many presents and more are on the way. Brand walks into the room and sets down another wrapped present for Rosemarie. I thank him and then put another ornament onto one of the lower branches. Rosemarie yawns and I stand up with Rosemarie.

"Let's get you to bed." As I'm walking upstairs with Rosemarie the doorbell rings. I stop walking and look down the stairs. I see Brand walking to the door, ready to answer it. Who could be here at such a late hour? I walk down the stairs and look down the hallway. I see Brand looking through the little hole in the door and then smile. He opens the door and then takes a step back.

"Sir Ivan, it's great to see you."

I smile as my best friend walks into the house. I've known Ivan since I was a human. The two of us were recruited at the same time, and have been inseparable since. But after I was banished to the human world we didn't really seen each other, not until he was banished as well. He stood up for me and he didn't like that. Ivan looks towards me and smiles. His eyes grow wide when he sees Rosemarie in my arms.

"You have a baby." He says as he walks over to me. "When did you have a baby?"

"I found her behind a bars alley a few months ago. I decided to keep her."

"May I hold her?" Ivan asks me. I watch him for a moment, thinking about it, and then hand her to him.

"Be careful with her." Ivan nods and holds Rosemarie close to him.

"She's so pretty." I nod.

"Yes, she is... what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to visit my best friend for Christmas. Is that so bad?"

"No, I'm just surprised."

"I'm surprised too. How old do you think she is?"

"When I first found her she was around six months Vera guessed. Based on that we are going to have her birthday be at the end of March." Rosemarie looks back at me and begins to whine. I take Rosemarie back from Ivan and she stops.

"You're good with her."

"Thank you, come on, I'll show you too your room."

**Christmas Morning**

"I think it's funny how she likes the wrapping paper more than the presents."

"Vera told me that babies were like that."

"Where is Vera?"

"She's not working today or last night, I'm letting her spend Christmas with her family."

"That's kind of you." I nod and take the paper away from Rosemarie. "Dimitri may I ask you something?"

"Yes, of course you can."

"I miss you, I really miss you, Dimitri, and I was wondering if you would let me move here, into the house. I mean it's such a large house with plenty of space. Would you mind?"

I look up at him. "I would love if you moved in."

"Really? Great, so when should I move in?"

"Whenever you want." I get the next present and unwrap it with Rosemarie. I push away the paper and then open the box. I hear her make a happy sound as she sees the pretty silver heart shaped necklace I got for her. "Do you like it?" I ask her as I take it out of the box and put it on her.

"You know she can't understand you right?" I nod and kiss her cheek.

"I know, but speaking to her helps her learn how to speak."

"Is she speaking already?" I smile and nod.

"Yes, she is." I pick Rosemarie up and turn her around. "Rosemarie, what's my name? Can you say my name?"

"Dimitri." She says. I smile and kiss her forehead. "She's amazing."

"I can't believe you're so happy with her. I can't believe you took in a child."

"Neither can I, but I'm so happy that I did."

**1906**

**Rosemarie's First Birthday: March Twenty-Six**

Since we don't know exactly when Rosemarie was born we decided to do it in March. She looks around the age of one now, maybe a month older. I'm not quite sure. Ivan moved in a week after Christmas and none of us have looked back. He has become accustomed to me and Rose, mainly how I act when I'm around her, which is all the time. When I wake up in the morning Rose is right next to me, still asleep. I smile and sit up in the bed. I pick Rosemarie up from the bed and gently wake her up. She opens her eyes and yawns.

"Happy Birthday, Rosemarie!" She smiles and giggles as I kiss her. "Let's go get you washed up, and then we can go downstairs for your special breakfast. Rosemarie started to teethe a few days after Christmas and her first tooth is starting to come in. I bathe Rosemarie and then take her downstairs to the kitchen where Ivan, Vera, and Brand are.

"Happy Birthday, Rosemarie." Vera says as he takes her from my arms. "You're one today."

After eating we dress Rosemarie up in one of her prettiest dresses and take a picture of her. Rosemarie's hair is much longer then it was when I first met her. It's down to her neck now and slightly curls at the end. The picture came out great. Rosemarie was put back down for her nap and when she woke up I took her out of the house for the first time. Her very first time after I found her. We are going to the park.

A short time after arriving at the park a little baby boy came up to Rose when she was playing and pushes her down. She began to cry and I was instantly by her side. A woman who looks like the black haired, blue eyed boy came up to her and stood up with him in her arms.

"I am so sorry... I can't believe he did that!" The black haired woman says. "Is your daughter alright?" I look down at Rosemarie and then nod.

"She seems fine. And it's alright."

"No it's not; my nephew shouldn't have pushed her."

"Their children, things happen. But I should be getting her home soon." She nods.

"Maybe I'll see you some other time." I look up at her. "I'm Natasha, Tasha for short."

"My name is Dimitri... maybe I will see you later."

I took Rosemarie back home and cleaned her again since she had dirt on her. I fed her lunch, set her down for another nap, and then when it was time for dinner all she ate was cake. She was covered in it by the time she was done. So she got a third bath that day. I told Ivan what happened with the little boy in the park and he asked if I planned on seeing the woman again.

"I don't know, I don't really have time to spend time with anyone else you, Brand, Vera, and Rosemarie here."

"I think you should get out more, you can't let Rosemarie be the only thing in your life."

"But I want her to be."


	5. Chapter 5

**The Year 1906**

**April 20th**

_"Dimitri!" She screams as the house burns._

_"No!" I yell as I run towards it as fast as I possibly can. "No!"_

_I watch as the fire rages on through the house, burning everything in its path. Please no, don't do this, don't take my family from me. I see my sisters on the top floors bedroom. Where's my mother? I can't run fast enough to get to them. I see someone running up to the floor where my sisters are and walk inside. I think it's my mother, but I'm not sure because I can't see her clear enough. Karoline screams my name again, knowing this is happening because of me. _

_I pick up my pace and right as I get to the house the bottom foundation of the house gives out and it collapses, taking my sisters and possibly my mother down with it. After I can see through the smoke I run through the rubble and to where my family is. My sisters and mother were all taken down with the house, and are dead._

_No, no damn it!_

"She looks too cute in that pink dress." Ivan says as I put the light pink ribbon into her hair. Rose reaches for my longer hair and gently pulls. I pick Rose up and kiss her again.

"She does, doesn't she?"

"Dimitri... do you love Rose?" I look up at Ivan. "Do you love her as if she were your own?"

"Yes," I instantly answer. "I do love her."

"Like a father?"

"Adoptive father. I don't feel like I'm Rosemarie's real father, I'm not. Somehow I wish I did... but one part of me doesn't want to feel like I'm her father."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know... I just have this connection to her that doesn't feel like the fatherly-daughter sort." I set Rose down and she walks over to Ivan. He picks her up and gently runs his fingers through her hair, fixing her hair.

"Are you going to the park?"

"Yes,"

"Are you going to see Tasha?"

"I don't know... I don't know if I want too." I say as I stand up and take Rosemarie from Ivan's arms. "Know, we are going to the park, and we are going to play on the swings." I grab a bag full with things for Rosemarie and leave the house for the park a few blocks away. When I get there all of the swings are open and I put Rosemarie into one. I push Rosemarie in the swing as so I do so I hear someone besides me. I turn my head and see Natasha putting her nephew into the swing next to me.

"Hello," she says. "I was hoping I would see you. Now," she places her hands onto her nephew's shoulders and then he looks towards us. "My nephew here wants to apologize for having pushed your daughter."

"She's my adoptive daughter."

"Oh, well none the well, Christian is going to apologize." He looks up at his aunt and then back at Rose who is watching him. He huffs and then tilts his head.

"I'm sorry." He says. Rose watches him for a moment and then looks up at me, as if asking what to do. I place my hands onto her shoulder and nod.

"Say thank you." She looks back at Christian and then says thank you. Natasha and I begin to push the children.

"So when did you adopt...?"

"Rosemarie. I adopted her in October. How old is your nephew?"

"He's eleven months, why did you adopt Rosemarie?" She asks me.

"I was walking through an alley and found her in a basket. Her parents must have left her there because they didn't want her and I took her in. I didn't want her to have to go to an orphanage. I know the types of things that go on there."

"How often do you baby-sit your nephew?" I ask her.

"I don't baby-sit him. His parents, my brother and sister-in-law were shot during robbery and passed. I got Christian."

"Oh," I watch Natasha for a moment and think I recognize her from something. Not the first time I met her but something else. I can't point my finger on it as we continue to talk and play with the children.

"Will I see you again?" Natasha asks me as we sit on a bench, watching Rosemarie and Christian playing. I look towards her and then back at the kids.  
"I think we should, especially since it seems like the kids are getting along very well." Rose giggles as she pushes Christian to the ground. I smile. "That doesn't help me at all, but she's just getting a little bit of pay-back. Otherwise I do think they like each other. I don't think we should break them apart. Christian never gets to spend any time with other children."

"The same for Rosemarie."

"So we agree, they should spend time together again." I nod. "So the same time next week?"

"Yes, the same time next week." I stand back up and walk over to Rosemarie, I lift her into my arms and Natasha gets Christian. "I will see you later, Natasha."

She nods. "Yes, see you later Dimitri."

**That Night**

"You have no idea how much I love you, Rosemarie." I tell her as I gently brush her hair. "I love you so much."

"I love you." I stop brushing her hair and smile. I set down the hair brush and brush my lips against her cheek. Rose looks up at me and kisses my own cheek. I grin and pick her up. I lie back in the bed and set her down on my chest. Her hands grab my hair and she gets readjusted on my chest. For a long time I just rub her back.

"I love you."


	6. Chapter 6

**The Year 1906**

**May 4th**

_I tap my foot as I watch the robbery go down. The dark haired man and woman are standing by the front of the store. She is gripping his arm, she looks terrified. The man is throwing a bag at the man behind the register, yelling for him to put in money. _

_"We have to get out of here." The woman says voice quiet. _

_"I know, when he isn't looking we'll head for the door." His wife nods and the man turns back around to yell at the man to hurry up. "Now." The man and woman quickly hurry to the door but the man heard her heels. He flips around and yells at them. He then raises his gun and shoots at them. The man blocks his wife's body with his own and the bullet goes through his heart. The woman screams as he collapses to the ground. The man points the gun at her and before she can run she too is shot, on the ground riving in pain. Minutes after that the police arrived, the paramedics took the couple, but I knew it was too later they were killed and I just watched. _

I let Christian's parents die.

**May 5th**

A Rose giggle as she runs through the grass, rain is falling and Christian is chasing her. Ever since I woke up all I could think about was how I let them die. I let a little boys parents die. Christian gets to Rose and grabs her hand. Rose giggles as he pulls her back to him. The two of them hug and I feel a little bit of jealousy. Why do I feel this way? I'm raising Rose as if she were my own child? Why am I feeling this jealousy as her and a boy hug? The two of them break apart and begin to chase each other again.

"They are so cute, aren't they?" Natasha asks me.

"Yes, extremely." Rose's little curls are flying around as she runs. I need to talk to Ivan about this. About how I feel towards Rose when she's with other boys. I look down at my watch and stand up. "We should be getting home. It's time for her nap."

"Maybe Christian and I could come over. They look like their having so much fun." I imagine Rose and Christian being in the same bed and my jealously boils inside me.

"I don't think that would be very smart, I have a colleague of mine coming in tonight and I need to get prepared."

"Oh, well maybe some other time then." She says as the two of us begin to walk to the children. We pick them up, say goodbye, then break apart.

**July 3rd **

"No." I watch Rosemarie for a moment and then wrap my arms over my chest.

"What?"

"No. I do' wan it."

"You don't want it" she nods her head. "Why not?"

"It's gross."

"You've never tried it." She burrows her brows and huffs.

"I don't wan it."

"You will eat it Rosemarie and you will stay here until those are gone." I say as I point at her green beans. Rose glares at me and wraps her arms over her chest. I grab my book from the counter and sit down across from her. "I can be here all day."

She huffs again and leans back in her seat. I know Rosemarie won't eat them right away so I begin to read my book. Fifteen minutes later Rosemarie has eaten none of her greens and is staring at the wall. She is so stubborn. I continue to read and time seems to fly by. When I look back up she hasn't moved an inch. I roll my eyes and set down my book.

"Rosemarie, you aren't going to get away with this. Eat your green beans." She doesn't reply, just continues to stare at the wall. I pick my book back up and sigh. When I look back up Rosemarie is staring down at her lap. I stand up from my seat and walk over to her. I kneel down in front of her and see that her eyes are closed. She's asleep. I sigh once more and pick her up. She won this battle today. Indeed she did. I take Rosemarie upstairs to the bedroom and the two of us get into bed.

**July 4th **

"Aren't they pretty?" I ask Rose as we stare into the sky. Fireworks are being set off, celebrating the freedom of America. Rose isn't scared of the fireworks, she loves to watch them. She thinks their pretty. Rose giggles as she watches them and I smile at the sound. I kiss her cheek and we continue to watch them. After the finale I took Rosemarie to the bedroom and read to her. While I was doing so the door opened and Ivan walked inside.

"Hello,"

"Hello," I say as I look down at Rose. She's almost asleep. "Is there anything you need?"

"Why don't you go out with Natasha this weekend? I can watch Rose." I think about me being out with Natasha this weekend, having fun, and then I think about me and Rose spending the weekend together. I would rather be here with Rose. Be anywhere with Rose.

"I don't think so; I'm just going to stay here with her." Ivan knows he isn't going to win so he just nods, says goodnight, then leaves. I look down at Rosemarie and close my eyes. I don't know why, but I imagine Rose as a child, then a teenager, then an adult. I don't think she'll look like how I imagine, but I know it will be something similar. When I open my eyes Rose is wide awake again. I smile and kiss her forehead. "I don't want you to grow up, not for a while. But I know that when you do, I'm going to love you even more then I already do."


	7. Chapter 7

**The Year 1906**

**September 1st**

"They've gotten so big." Natasha says as we watch the kids play in mine and Rose's houses backyard. "Do you remember how small they were only a few months ago?"

"Yes, I do." Rose sets down what Christian handed her and leans towards him. She places her hands onto the ground in front of her body and then kisses her cheek. Like the first time I saw Rose and Christian playing together, jealously surges through me. I'm instantly off the bench and in front of Rose and Christian. I pick up Rosemarie. "I think the two of you should go."

"Why? All she did was kiss his cheek." She says as she stands up. Natasha walks over to Christian and lifts him into her arms.

"Natasha, I'm sorry, but I think you too should go. We will see you both later." Natasha and Christian look at us for a moment and then she nods.

"Alright, see you both later." Natasha leaves the backyard and leaves the house. I hear the front door close and then walk inside with Rosemarie. The two of us go into the living room and I set her down on my lap.

"Why did you kiss Christian's cheek?"

"Why's it so bad?" She asks me. "You kis' me."

"I love you, do you love Christian?" Please say no.

"I dunno..." I nod and then stand back up with Rose.

"Are you tired?" She nods and wipes her eyes. "Alright, let's get you to the room and you can take a nap."

I set Rose down and then once she's asleep I go to the den room. I sit down in my plush red velvet chair and then take out the novel I'm reading. After a few moments I look up at the painting of Rose and me. I sigh, not knowing how I feel and then continue to read.

**October 31st **

I haven't explained to Natasha why I didn't like Christian kissing Rose, I don't even know why I don't like it. It's now Halloween and Vera is dressing Rosemarie while I and Ivan talk in the living room.

"Ivan why can't you deal with the fact that I don't want to be with someone right now? I have a little child on my hands that I need to think about."

"You think about her constantly Dimitri, I think you think about her twenty-four seven. It's ridiculous."

"Don't you dare tell me what's ridiculous. Why is it so bad that I want what's best for her?"

"You are smothering her Dimitri."

"I am not smothering her!"

"Is Dimitri upset?" I look up and see Vera holding Rosemarie in her arms. My anger vanishes and I stand up from the couch.

"You are so adorable." I say as I take her from Vera. Rosemarie is dressed up as a princess. She's wearing a beautiful pink dress that isn't nearly as beautiful as her and a silver tiara that I got her. It's real. She smiles a tooth-filled grin and I giggles when I kiss her. "And your hair is so pretty like that. I love when it's curled."

"Thank you," she says before kissing my nose.

"Are you ready for trick-or-treating?" She nods and I hold her tighter in my arms. It's still light outside and I plan on coming back long before dark. "We will be back in a few hours, see you both when we get back."

"Goodnight Sir," Vera says.

"See you both."

Half an hour later I'm standing in front of Natasha and Christian. Natasha isn't dressed and Christian is dressed up as a prince. Damn, I should have chosen something different for Rose.

"Dimitri, Rose, it's great to see the two of you. Well aren't you the prettiest thing?" She asks to Rose as she plucks one of her curls. Rose pulls back slightly and I readjust her in my arms.

"Christian looks rather handsome in his costume." I say. She smiles down at her nephew and nods.

"Thank you, I made his costume."

"It's amazing."

"Who made Rosemarie's dress? Vera?" I nod.

"Yes, Vera made it. She makes a lot of Rosemarie's best dresses."

"I'm jealous; I wish I could have beautiful dresses like that." She looks up at me and smiles. "Would you like to continue trick-or-treating with us?"

I can't tell her no. She would think I'm trying to avoid her and Christian. In a way I am, but I don't know why. I nod.

"We would both enjoy that." For the next hour the four of us continue to trick-or-treat. People think that we are a couple and that Rosemarie and Dimitri are our children. I don't like it, but I don't correct anyone, Natasha does that, but she doesn't look like it bothers her or like it displeases her. After we finish up we walk Natasha and Christian home.

"That you for joining us tonight." I nod.

"I had fun," I lie. "We will see you both later, goodbye Natasha."

"Bye Wose." Christian says as the two of them hug.

"Bye Christian." She says. The two of them continue to hug and then I pick her up once they are apart. I say goodbye to them again and then take Rosemarie home.

The next few months went by quickly. We didn't see Natasha and Christian much, but when we did Natasha was always flirting with me and I was jealous because of Rosemarie and Christian's relationship. For Christmas Rosemarie had more appreciation for the toys, but still loved the wrapping paper. On New Years Eve I stayed in bed with Rosemarie and when it was one I kissed her forehead lightly then went to bed. For Rosemarie's second birthday Christian and Natasha came over for dinner. Rosemarie and Christian have become great friends, and I'm not sure about my emotions for Natasha. She is a great woman, but I don't have any feelings for her other then some form of friendship. Natasha and Christian gave Rosemarie presents, but I decided to wait to give Rosemarie the most important one for after they were gone. The two of us were in bed and I gave her the most important present. She loved the beautiful China Doll I gave her. The doll is blonde, green eyed, and she decided to name her Lissa.


	8. Chapter 8

**The Year 1907**

**April 23rd **

"No,"

"Rosemarie, I will no longer fight you about this, now get into the bed." I say as I stand besides my bedrooms bed. She glares up at me and shakes her head. For the past ten minutes I've been trying to talk Rose into getting into the bed. She insisted on walking up the stairs and to the bedroom herself, I allowed it and now regret it. When I take Rosemarie up the stairs and into the bedroom I can just set her down, but now I can't, she'll scream and shout and pout.

"I'm not tired."

"You will be when you get into the bed."

"No, I won't."

"Will you get into the bed if I read you a story?" She shakes her head, hair flipping around her small face. "Rosemarie, please, get into the bed; don't make me put you into it."

She continues to glare up at me. "I'm not tired."

"Fine, you're making me do this." I walk over to Rosemarie and pick her up. Like I suspected, she fights me.

"Put me down! I'm not tired!" I set Rosemarie down into the bed and she has a pout face on. "I'm not going to get tired anytime soon."

"Mm-hmm." I get into bed next to her and take out my book. For almost half an hour Rose tries not to fall asleep, but eventually she can't take it anymore and falls asleep.

April 24th

"What happened to her?" I ask in a worried tone as I walk over to Brand as he carries Rosemarie, who is crying, into the kitchen. "What happened Brand?"

"Miss. Rosemarie tripped and scrapped her knee." He sets Rosemarie down on the counter and starts up the water. I walk over to her and kneel down in front of her.

"Are you alright?" I ask her. She shakes her head.

"No, my knee really hurts."

"I'm so sorry sweetheart, is there anything I can do?"

"I dunno." I nod and very gently kiss her bleeding knee.

"Does that feel any better?" I ask her. Rosemarie's tears begin to stop and she nods.

"Wha' did you do?"

"I just made some of the pain go away." Brand hands me a wet towel and I gently begin to remove the blood from her scrape. When it's all cleaned up and bandaged I take Rosemarie to the bedroom and read her her favorite stories. While I do so Rose cuddles up into my side and rested her head on my lower stomach.

"Ivan told me that you're going to be gone for a few days..." Rosemarie suddenly says. I stop reading mid-sentence and look down at her.

"What?" I ask her. "What did Ivan tell you? That I'm going to be gone for a few days?" She nods and looks up at me.

"Why are you leaving?" She asks me.

"Honey I'm not, I'm not leaving... I don't know why Ivan told you that." I pull Rosemarie closer to me and kiss her forehead. "I'm not going anywhere."

**April 24th **

"Why on Earth did you tell Rosemarie that I'm leaving for a few days?" I ask Ivan as I walk into the living room where he is lounging.

"Because you are, we're going out for a few days."

"No, we are not."

"Yes, you are. Dimitri we are going to Russia."

"No... Absolutely not... and I certainly am not leaving Rose." Ivan looks up at me and sits up.

"Dimitri there is something I need to tell you. About your mother." I watch him with an unsure look.

"What about my mother?" I ask him. Ivan rises from the couch and walks over to me. He places a hand onto my shoulder and takes a deep breath.

"I think she might be alive."

**June 25th **

No. There is no way my mother can be alive. I saw her charred body. She's dead. Everyone in my family is dead, but I had to see, just in case. But I refused to leave Rosemarie, but we didn't leave right after Ivan told me. Rosemarie came down with something shortly after I found out that my mother could be alive and I wanted to make sure she would be perfectly safe. So now the two of us are on a train, heading to my home town.

As Ivan, Rosemarie and I are heading to Baia I brush Rosemarie's hair, we will be in Baia and to where ever Ivan wants us to be in only ten minutes and I am brushing Rosemarie's hair, and I want her to look good. Ivan watches me as I set down the brush and grab a dark purple ribbon and put her hair up into a pony-tail with it.

"You are obsessed with her."

"Yes, I am."

"Why are you so obsessed with her? She isn't even yours."

"I love her, I love her so much."

"If you love her so much why don't you call yourself her father? Tell people you're her father instead of her adoptive father or guardian?" I look up at him, unsure of how to answer that. I honestly don't know. I shrug.

"I don't know, Ivan, I don't know." I kiss her cheek and she smiles. Rosemarie looks up at me.

"Where are we going?"

"To Baia, it's my home town."

Finally we get there and get out of the train, getting our things, then getting into a cab. I keep Rosemarie close to me as we drive; she's never been in a car before. This is her first time. This is also her first time in Russia. The first of many.

"Here we are." Ivan says as we park outside of a building. The three of us get out and for a long time we stand outside of it.

"Dimitri, if she isn't in there and she did pass, I am so sorry for having done this."

"It's not your fault; you're doing this for me." For a few more minutes we stand out there and then walk inside. Rosemarie is gripping Lissa in her arms, not quite liking the area she's in, scared and cold. I lift her into my arms and take her coat off my shoulder, Ivan takes the doll from her and I put Rosemarie's coat on her. "Better?" She nods.

"Alright, give me a moment." He walks over to a man and they talk for a few moments. When they are done he motions me to follow him. The three of us walk up a few sets of stairs and then get to a room with a number on it,** 198**. I take in a deep breath.

"Is this her apartment?"

"I think so." Ivan raises his arm and knocks at her door. I take in a deep breath and hold Rosemarie closer to me. I hear the lock be unlocked and it opens. I close my eyes for a long moment, not wanting to open them. It's silent for a few moments.

"Dimka?" I open my eyes at the familiar voice.

"Mama." I say as I watch her stand in the doorway. She smiles and walks out into the hall.

"Oh God, Dimka, I thought you were dead." She says as tears fill her eyes. My mom... she's my mom. My real mother, she isn't dead. I hand Rosemarie to Ivan and then pull my mother into my arms.

"I thought you died in the house fire."

"No, I was working... oh God..." For a long time we talk to each other, just standing there, in each others arms. And then she remembers that I had a baby in my arms. My mother breaks apart from me and looks towards Ivan and Rosemarie.

"Who is this?" She asks me. "Is this your daughter?"

"Adoptive daughter, I found her behind a bar alley one night almost two years ago. Her name is Rosemarie."


	9. Chapter 9

**The Year 1907**

**April 24rd,**

"She's beautiful." My mother says as she holds Rose. Rosemarie smiles at her as my mother kisses her forehead.

"Yes she is. She's so beautiful, and smart, but also extremely stubborn." My mother smiles.

"Dimitri," my mother says as she looks up at me. "You look like you haven't aged a day since the last time I saw you, what's happened in these past two years?"

"I don't know why I didn't age at all in these two years, good genes I guess. Besides, I'm only twenty-five."

"True, but I feel like just yesterday you were a little boy." She hands me back Rosemarie and I hold her in my arms.

"Mother, I think you should move to America. You can love with us, our house is big enough, and I want you back in my life."

"Dimitri, my life is here in Russia, I can't just leave."

"Mother please, I want you back in my life, but I can't move here. I own a house, Rosemarie's friend lives in America. I can't move back here." My mother takes in a deep breath and rises from the couch.

"I don't know Dimitri... I don't know. Now, I have to get some sleep, I was up early for work."

"If you move to America with me you won't need to work a minute." I stand up and pick up Rose's doll. "Mother please move to America with us, think about it, please." I walk over to her and kiss her lightly before taking Rosemarie to our bedroom. I set her down in the bed besides me and get under the covers. I don't bother changing clothes, I don't feel like it.

"Read me a story?" Rosemarie asks me. I look down at her and nod.

"Alright sweetheart, I'll read to you."

**May 2nd **

"Do you like it?" I ask my mother as we all stand in my houses living room in America. She moved here, I'm happy she did. She decided she didn't want to be in Russia where we lived and our family died.

"You have maids." She says as she watches Vera and Brand chat with each other.

"Yes, Vera and Brand. Their great."

"Do they like you?"

"Brand, Vera, do you like working for me?" I ask them. They look towards me and nod.

"Yes, we do like working for you. You are the best person I have ever worked for, Sir." Vera says. I smile and nod towards her.

"Thank you," I look down at my mother. "Does that answer your question?" She smiles and nods. "Alright, I'll show you to your room. Ivan, please watch Rose." He nods and takes Rosemarie from my arms. I show my mother up to her room which is across from mine and Vera comes up to help us unpack her things. When we're done I show her around the house and then a little bit around the town, we saw Natasha and Christian. Natasha asked if we wanted to go to the park after I introduced them all and I couldn't think of a reason why not. So for a few hours we all stayed at the park, I was jealous when Christian showed signs of affection towards each other and I didn't flirt back with Natasha, my mother enjoyed spending time with the two babies and when it was time we went home and had dinner. For a long time we sat by a fire, talking about our past, good memories, then we all went to bed.

**September 1st**

My mother has lived here for a few months now and is finally used to it. Used to having people work for her, her not being in Russia anymore. I'm glad she's used to it. Rosemarie is so much bigger now. In only a few months she'll be two. When talking with Natasha we discussed when the children should start school. Only three more years to go. I can't believe it. She's growing up so fast. The months flash by and before I know it Rosemarie is three and talking very well. She prefers to walk instead of being held, she still doesn't like to eat her greens unless I force her to. Rosemarie and my mother have gotten closer, she loves having a baby girl around, I think it reminds her of my sisters and when she was raising them.

Before I know it, Rosemarie is a child, and about to start school.

**1910**

**August 2nd**

"Maybe I should get her a tutor instead of sending her to school." I say as I watch Rosemarie get changed into her new dress. She doesn't want me to help her anymore, but I know she'll get so frustrated that she can't manage to do it that she'll ask me to help. "I think I'm going to do that."

"But she's excited to go to school with Christian and she needs to meet new people." My mother says. Rosemarie huffs and I walk over to her.

"Here, let me help you." She doesn't fight me. "You're true, she does need to meet new people, but I think having a tutor will get her a better education."

"Maybe so, but she needs to become more social." Rosemarie's dress is now on and she's messing with the frill on it.

"She needs more friends than just Christian." I pick Rosemarie up and she huffs, but she doesn't make me set her down. "Dimitri, son, she should go to school, she needs to go to school. Rosemarie," my mother says as she addresses Rose. "Would you like to go to school?"

"Yes," she answers.

"Alright then, Rosemarie is going to be staring school at the end of the month."

**August 29th **

"Are you excited?" I ask Rosemarie as she picks up her little bag. She smiles and nods.

"Yes, I am excited. Is Christian going to be there?"

"Yes, he is." She smiles again.

"Are we going to have classes together?"

"You are going to be in the same class, yes, now let's get you to school." I pick her up and yell that I would see Ivan after dropping Rosemarie off and leave the house. When we get to the school Rosemarie is excited, and when she's Christian and Natasha outside she smiles and tries to get out of the car. I park and get out, I help her out of the car and she runs to him. He runs to her and when they get to each other they begin to talk about how they think the day is going to be. I don't get jealous anymore, I'm used to the two of them spending time together now, and I'm not jealous anymore. Well, that's a small lie, I do get slightly upset as how close they are, but I try not to mind. Natasha walks over to me and smiles.

"Hello Dimitri."

"Hello Natasha,"

"So I was thinking something, would you like to spend time with me, without the children? Sort of like a date?" I watch Natasha with a blank expression for a moment and then look towards Rosemarie and Christian.

"I don't know Natasha, no. I'm sorry."

"Oh... well why not?"

"I don't think it's the best thing, if we end up not working what would happen with Rosemarie and Christian, it would be awkward and strange. I can't do that to them. I'm sorry, but no Natasha."

"Oh... it's alright... Christian, I'm going to be leaving, I love you, see you after school."

"Bye Aunt Tasha!"

"Bye!" Rosemarie yells. Natasha looks up at me and then nods before walking away. I look over at Rosemarie.

"Rosemarie, I have to get back to the house, I love you!"

"I love you, too, bye!" I watch her for a few moments as she continues to talk with Christian and then walk to the car.


	10. Chapter 10

**The Year 1915**

**March 25th,**

"Damn, she's beautiful." I look over to the right as I hear someone say that. A teenage boy around Rose's age, fifteen tomorrow, is watching Rosemarie while standing next to his friend. I look back at Rosemarie and see her still examining a piece of jewelry that caught her eye. The last ten years have flown by and Rosemarie is now a young woman. The boys notice me looking at them and back off. I can't keep boys off of Rosemarie for much longer now, they have become more interested in her with every passing day, and in a few more years she can become engaged and get married.

"Rosemarie, come on, it's time to go home."

"Why? We've only been in out for an hour."

"Rosemarie, come on, we're going home." She looks back at me and nods.

"Alright, fine." Rosemarie looks down at my hand and I take hers. "Thank you," I nod. The two of us begin to walk home together. It's a nice beautiful day out. When Rosemarie was a child this would be the time of day when I would take her to the park and her and Christian would spend time together. Now when they spend time together it's out with other friends or at each others houses. Whenever Christian is over at our house I make the two of them keep the bedroom door open if their up there. I'm not sure about when Rosemarie is at his house.

"Dimitri?" Rose asks as we continue to walk. "May I ask you something? Something I've been meaning to ask for a long time."

"Of course you may Rosemarie."

"Well I was looking at the painting of the two of us when I was a baby, and I noticed that you haven't aged, not even a little bit. Neither has Ivan." I look down at Rosemarie.

"That is not a conversation for the public. We'll talk about it when we get home."

"Alright, remember the Olena wants you to pick up some more things for the dinner she's making me tomorrow."

"Oh yes, I had almost forgotten. We'll stop by the store before going home." The two of us walk for a few more minutes until we get to the usual store we get our food from. The two of us walk inside and Rosemarie walks towards the back of the store, looking for something, I'm not sure what exactly. After grabbing the things my mother wanted me to get I buy them and begin to walk towards where I saw Rosemarie go.

"Thank you," I hear Rosemarie says as I turn a corner. I see Rosemarie standing in front of the door that leads to the back with a boy. He must work here; he's dressed in normal clothing but has on a green apron, the ones that the other men who work here wear. He must be the son of the owner, he looks enough like him. The boy is handing Rosemarie a small batch of flowers, pink roses.

"You're welcome," he says. "So how has your week been?"

"Good, it's been good. Tomorrow is my birthday."

"Yes, I know. If I don't see you tomorrow, happy birthday." Rose smiles.

"Thank you, I'm glad you decided to continue on with school. I really am, it wouldn't be the same without you Mason." He smiles and nods.

"I'm gad you think so, and I'm glad I decided to stay. My father decided that we would be able to afford it so I decided to continue in it. Who knows, it could help me to get a better job when I am older, and if that happens I would be able to keep better care of my future family, give them more." Rose lowers her arms and smiles at him.

"Yes, you would be able to."

"How is Christian doing?"

"Christian is good; he's getting over his cold, thankfully." The boy Rose called Mason nods. "How is your mother?"

"She's getting worse."

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be, there is nothing you can do. No one can do anything it seems."

"If there is anything I or my family can do please tell me. Please."

"I shall, thank you." She nods and takes a step closer to the red haired boy. He straightens up and Rose steps closer once more, their bodies are now touching and her arms are wrapped around him. He moves his arms around her and they hold each other until I step in.

"Rosemarie." The two of them break apart and look towards me.

"Dimitri..."

"It's time to go, I have what I need." She nods and looks down at Mason.

"I'll see you at school Monday." He nods.

"Monday."

"Thank you again for the flowers." He nods. Rosemarie looks up at me and then quickly looks down before walking towards the front of the shop. I look towards the boy and he watches me for a moment before walking though the back door. He shuts it. I take in a deep breath and leave the shop after Rose.

"Who was that?" I ask Rosemarie as we begin to walk home again.

"A friend of mine from school, I've known him for years."

"Why did he give you flowers?"

"He knew it was my birthday. He was being kind."

"You hugged him."

"He's my friend, why are you so upset? I hug Christian."

"That is different."

"How so?" She asks me. "Both boys are my friends." I don't answer. "Are you worried I'm going to be with him?" I look over at her. "Do you think I would be with him? Sexually?"

I stop walking and turn towards her. "No, but I will not tolerate anything of that sort."

"What about when I am married?"

"That will not be happening for a long time."

"I'm almost of age; it could happen at anytime now."

"No, it will not."

"Why not? If someone asks for my hand would you say no?" I don't answer. I turn back around and begin walking home again. I hear Rosemarie follow.

"You do know that there are forms of birth control out there, if I wished I could go out and get some."

"You will not."

"It will be my sex life."

"Until you are wedded you will have nothing to do with sex."

"When did you begin to have sex? Have you ever done it?"

"That is none of your business Rosemarie."

"Just answer me. Have you been intimate before?" I stop again and grab her arm.

"This is no place to talk about this, you will stop this now."

"Or what?" She asks me. "What will you do?" I release Rose's arm and grunt. Stubborn girl.

_"I don't feel very good." Rosemarie tells me as she walks into the bedroom. I look up at her. _

_"What doesn't feel good?" I ask her as she gets onto the bed. Rosemarie is ten years old, she started to use her own bedroom a few years ago, around seven or eight. She rarely sleeps in my room now._

_"My stomach mainly, and my head hurts as well. I don't know why." She lies down besides me and closes her eyes. _

_"Have you tried going to the bathroom?" She nods and sits up. _

_"Maybe I should try again. Maybe I'm just hungry or something. I don't know." She gets out of the bed and walks to the bathroom. I sit where I am and wait for her to return, she does a few moments later. She looks worried._

_"Rosemarie?" _

_"Where's Vera?"_

_"Rosemarie, what's wrong?"_

_"Where's Vera?" _

_"Down in the kitchen, why?"_

_"I need to speak to her." Rosemarie leaves the room and a few moments later I follow her. I let her speak to Vera alone in the kitchen, waiting for one of them to come out. When they do Vera tells me to sit down and that she and Rosemarie would be a few minutes. I nodded and sat down in the living room. When Vera comes back into the room I rise from the couch. _

_"Well, what's wrong?" Vera takes in a deep breath. _

_"Rosemarie has started her first period." She tells me. My eyes grow slightly wide and I straighten my posture._

_"But she's only ten, that's too young."_

_"No, it's not; I sent her upstairs to get some rest. I informed her about what's going on with her body. She'll be fine." _

_"But..." I trail off, unsure of what to say, unsure of what to think. _


	11. Chapter 11

**The Year 1915**

**March 25th,**

That night I awoke to Rose getting into bed with me. I open my eyes and watch as she gets underneath the covers, she's in her dressing gown; her hair is down and is still slightly curled from earlier in the day. She notices that I am awake and lays down, facing me. She cuddles up against me and wraps an arm over my waist; I do the same for her.

"Dimitri, I won't be having sex with anyone for a long time. A very long time. I don't feel that way with anyone and the person I do feel that way towards will never be interested in me like that. Never."

"What makes you think that? Every man or boy we walk by ogles at you. You're beautiful."

"It doesn't matter how I know, I know he'll never like me."

"I'm sure whoever you think doesn't like you does." She doesn't answer and holds me tighter.

"I'm sorry for what I did earlier."

"It's quite alright, Rosemarie, I understand, and to answer your question, yes I have been intimate with people, but I am old enough, I've lived for many years. I'm forty years old."

"Why didn't you ever have children? Get married? You would be the perfect husband, and based on how you raised me, the perfect father."

"I didn't do either of those things because I never fell in love with anyone; I got out my urges, but never pursued a relationship with any of the women I was with when I was younger. The only person I've ever loved is you." I look down at Rosemarie and see that she's staring out towards the door, face blank.

"I'm tired."

"Then sleep." Rose looks up at me and kisses my cheek.

"Good night Dimitri."

"Good night Rosemarie." She rests her head on my chest again.

"I love you," I look down at the top of her head, the way she said those three words sounds different then all of the other times she's said it.

"I love you, too."

_It just turned January, in a few months Rosemarie will be fifteen. How the years have gone by. Rosemarie wanted to go out for dinner and dancing for the New Year so I took her out. We went out to a little restaurant and club, we ate and a short while later Rosemarie asked me to dance. I couldn't tell her no. The two of us began to dance, we danced for a long time, during a fast paced song Rose's heel broke off of her shoe and she started to trip, I quickly grabbed her waist and pulled her close to me. Her body was pressed to mine, I could feel her heat. Rose's hair was falling out of the bun and she looked so...sultry. Her eyes seem to be glazed over; her skin has a light glisten to it. She looks so damn fantastic. Rose stares up at me, our eyes meet and she takes in a deep breath.__  
__Rose moves her hands up to my neck and she closes her eyes. My hands grip her hips and before I know it my eyes close and I begin to lean forward, towards her. My eyes reopen and I see that my face is only an inch or so away from Roses. I bend back up and she opens her eyes._

_"Um, we should be going back home. It's late." She says. I nod. _

I almost kissed Rose.

**March 26th **

"You never answered my question." I look up at Rose as she walks into the bedroom. She's dressed in her pearl pink ring; her hair is somewhat wet, flowing at her sides.

"What?"

"You never answered my questions as to why you haven't aged, and don't tell me that you have amazing genes, I won't believe that." I nod and tap the bed besides me. She walks over to the bed and sits down.

"Rosemarie... there are many things you don't know about me, things no one knows about me, not even my mother. I don't want to tell you this, but I know you won't let me get away with that."

"Why don't you want me to know?"

"Because I'm afraid that you won't love me as much, you won't want to live with me anymore; you won't look at me the same."

"That will never happen," she places her hands onto my knee. "Tell me, Dimitri." I nod.

"When I was eighteen, shortly after I met Ivan... I got into an accident; I was in the wrong place and the wrong time and was shot. I was supposed to die, but I didn't, before I knew it I was in a dark room. I was in Hell; I was confused because I thought I was a good person, religious, I had a good heart. I didn't understand. I was looking around the room and saw someone walk into the room. He had gold skin, striking red eyes. The Devil..." Rose watches me for a moment. "Do you believe me?"

"I've always trusted you; I'll never stop trusting you." I nod and take her hands.

"I remember everything like it was yesterday. He walked up to me and smiled, the most white and dazzling smile I've ever seen until yours of course, but his smile was more sinister, and yours is beautiful." She smiles, it fades when I continue. "He told me that God didn't want me, but he did. He wanted me to work for him, and if I did I would be forever immortal, never age. I would get anything I want, so I took it. So he saved, me have me millions, and I began to work for him. I would kill for him. Kill those he didn't like, those who deserved it. Rapists, murders, robbers... It wasn't until after my family died in a fire when I wanted to stop, I was twenty two. For years I killed, innocents and those who deserved horrible deaths. When I refused to kill anymore the Devil banished me to the human world, I would live the rest of my years in pain, remembering my dead family, the faces of those I killed, and before I knew it I met you, you made everything better for me."

Rose watches me for a long time before speaking. "So, you'll never age, but I will... you'll still look like this when I'm old wrinkled, and dead." I never thought of that. "Every year I get older, and you stay like this." The two of us are quiet.

"Rosemarie! Sweetheart, your dress is here, I need to get you into it!" Vera yells from downstairs. Rose looks up at me and then stands up.

"I'll see you in a few minutes, Dimitri." She walks to the bedroom door.

"Happy Birthday Rosemarie." I say as she leaves the room.

**Later that Day**

"Happy Birthday Rose." Christian says as he walks into the house. Rose smiles and rises from her seat beside me. Rosemarie is dressed in a very form fitting black dress. The dress covers all of her body, except for her neck and head, but it show off all of her curves.

"Thank you," the two of them hug and then sit down. Natasha walks into the room and watches me for a moment before nodding. I nod back and she sits down across from me. Rosemarie and Christian begin to talk about a mix of things and after a few minutes they decide to head upstairs.

"So fifteen, Rosemarie is almost an adult. I cannot believe that they are so old now, it seems like just yesterday we were all meeting in the park."

"Yes, it does." The two of us sit in silence for a moment before Ivan walks into the room. He smiles at Natasha and then looks towards me.

"Where are Rose and Christian?"

"Upstairs."

"Would you go get them? I want to test something."

"Test what?"

"Just go get them. Meet me in the den room. Natasha, Olena would like to talk to you in the kitchen about something, I didn't ask what." Natasha nods and walks to the kitchen. I wait a moment and head upstairs to Rose's bedroom. I stop at the top of the stairs and see Rose and Christian sitting on the bed. His hands are on her knees and she's leaning towards him. They both are smiling. Christian says something and Rose giggles. Just like when she was a child I get jealous.

"Rosemarie, Christian, Ivan wants us to go to the den for something." The two of them look up and nod.

"Did he say for what?" She asks. I shake my head.

"No, he did not; all he said was that he wanted to test something. Now, let's go." The two of them get up and go to the den with me. When we walk inside Ivan is sitting down next to a circle of candles and a hard bound book. "Ivan, what is this about?"

"Sit down, I want to test something, see if it will work."

"See if what will work?" Rosemarie asks.

"Something I read in this book." He says as he shows me the book. "Now, sit down next to each other around the candles, then I'll tell you what we're about to do."

The three of us look at each other and then sit down around the candles. Rose sits down in-between the middle of Christian and I. "So what are we doing, Ivan?"

"I read that if you say three words with your eyes closed and then throw some of this stuff, I don't remember what it's called, into the air a purple aura comes around the person you're meant to be with, your soul mate."

"That can't be true." Christian says.

"Let's test it out, that's what I want to do. Dimitri, would you like to go first?"

"Who all will see the aura?"

"Just the person who threw the dust stuff into the air. So?"

"I don't know, Ivan."

"Oh come on, Dimitri, who will it hurt?" Rosemarie asks me. I watch her for a moment and then shrug.

"Alright, fine, I'll do it." Ivan smiles and hands me the little jar filled with purple powder. I take off the top and Ivan tells me the three words to say. The words are a different language and I don't know what they are or mean. I take out a pinch of the powder, say the words, and then flick the powder off of my fingers. I watch it as it scatters and then notice a purple flickering thing, it looks like fire. I follow where the fire-like thing goes. It goes to Rosemarie. The fire-like thing moves around Rose and is now her aura. I take in a small breath.

Does this mean Rose is my soul mate?

"Why are you watching me?" Rosemarie asks me. I blink a few times.

"No reason. Whose turn is it?"

"I'll go." Christian says. He takes the powder and then says the words. He watches the powder for a moment and then flicks it into the air. He watches it. To the three of us the powder falls to the ground, but he follows where it goes. Christian stands up from the ground and walks over to the dens chair.

"Where do you see the aura?" Rosemarie asks him. Christian picks something up and turns towards us.

"It's around the doll." He says as he shows us all the Lissa doll I got Rosemarie when she was a baby.

* * *

**If writing is** **Italic it is either a dream or a flashback-type moment. **


	12. Chapter 12

**The Year 1915**

**March 26th**

"Maybe you should try it again, I'm sure that it was just a mistake." Rosemarie says. Christian sets the doll back down and sits back down next to Rose. "Why don't I try, see who it goes too then you can try again."

"Sure." Christian says. Will Rose see the purple fire thing go to me like I saw it go to her? Is Rosemarie supposed to be my soul-mate? Is she the woman I am meant to be with for the rest of my life? Was that why I found her? Is that why I found Rose when she was a baby, so I could raise her and then make her my wife? What about when we age, she'll continue to grow, get older and I'll stay just like this... will I have to watch her die? Life the rest of my years with her and then lose her because of old age? What is something else happens to her? Is that why I feel so jealous when she's with other men? Did I know Rose was my soul-mate when she was a baby, and that's why I couldn't figure out why I was jealous? The more I think about it the more it makes sense. Rosemarie is my soul-mate, the woman I am supposed to be with. But I raised her, and what is she doesn't feel the same way towards me?

Rose takes a bit of powder and says the three words. Instead of flicking the powder off of her fingers she blows it off. I inhale and watch as the powder falls to the ground. I stare at it for a moment before looking up at her. Rosemarie is watching me, her face is blank.

"Well?" Rose doesn't answer Christian as she looks back at me. "Fine, I'll just go again then." Christian picks back up the powder and says the words once more before flicking off the powder. Once again he goes back to the doll. "What the hell? Why is the aura going to the doll?"

"Maybe she is meant to be your soul-mate," Ivan says. "Have you ever been intimate with a doll? They do anything you want." I glare towards Ivan and shake my head. He smiles and Christian sets down the doll. When Ivan did it he said that it just floated in the middle of the room, he thought that maybe the person he's meant to be with isn't in the house so it just stayed there. I don't know what to believe. We all ate dinner and then gave Rosemarie her presents. She hasn't opened her presents from me yet. After Christian and Natasha left Rosemarie and I went up to my bedroom. I close the door and look towards Rosemarie.

"I saw the purple aura around you." Rosemarie suddenly says.

"What?"

"I saw the aura around you, who did you see it around? Did you see it around me, is that why you were watching me? Is this real, part of me says yes and the other part tells me no because of the whole Christian and the doll thing. Dimitri... did you see the aura around me?"

I take a step towards Rosemarie. "Yes, I did." She takes in a deep breath. "Rosemarie... how do you feel towards me?"

"I... I... I love you, I always have but lately I've felt different towards you. Like how you think I feel towards other boys, and how they feel towards me. I have romantic feelings for you. And I know I shouldn't, you raised me, you probably think of me like your daughter."

"I don't, why do you think I don't have you call me dad, or tell people that I am your father. Rosemarie I love you, I love you so much, but this is wrong. What would we do what would we tell people? I... no, we can't do this. We can't. I raised you, you're like a daughter to my mother, and Natasha and Christian think I am your father figure. This won't work." I look into Rose's eyes and see something in her eyes, she looks hurt.

"Oh... alright, it's late, I'm going to go take a bath and get into bed. Goodnight." Rosemarie begins to walk to the door and I turn around.

"Rosemarie, don't." She looks back at me. "Don't, go get your coat and hat, we're going out."

"But-"I don't let her finish.

"No buts go get your things. We're leaving in a few minutes." After Rosemarie got her things we leave the house. We get into the car and I drive us to the first place we ever met. The bar.

"Why are we here?" Rosemarie asks me. I park the car.

"Rosemarie we are here because this is the first place I ever met you." I get out of the bar and she does the same. I take her hand and the two of us walk to the back of the bar. "This alley is where I found you." I walk over to the exact area. "This is where I found you, right here, in a basket with only a blanket and a piece or rosemary. That's why I named you Rosemarie. I found you here crying, cold so I took you back to the house with me. I didn't know if I should keep you, if I should take you to an orphanage. I knew I had to keep you because I couldn't let you go to one of those places, get hurt in anyway. Rosemarie I love you, I love you so much. All of these years I've loved you, in more than one way. Whenever you spent time with Christian I would get jealous, I didn't know why, I couldn't understand why, and now I do. I think I was supposed to find you that day, I think I was supposed to find you here and take you in. Not just so that I could raise you, but so that I could protect you and fall in love with you. I do love you Rosemarie, don't ever think I don't."

"Do you think we were meant to be?" She asks me. "Do you believe we are soul-mates?" I squeeze her hand and pull her body to mine.

"Yes, I do, and I know that for a long time it will be hard to get used to this, us being a couple, if you want to be right now. And I don't know if we would be able to tell anyone about it, not Christian or Vera or Brand, none of them."

"What about Ivan?"

"He'll understand, I trust him."

"I trust Christian."

"Yes, but he won't understand and would tell Natasha." She nods.

"I understand. Is Ivan an immortal as well?" I nod.

"Yes, we met shortly before I met the Devil, he was shot shortly after me, and we were there at the same time."

"Oh... so if we are meant to be together, what about our age difference and you never aging?" I blink a few times and place my other hand onto her shoulder.

"I don't know Rosemarie, well, I only look twenty-two, and that will never change, fifteen and twenty-two is just a seven year gap, people who don't know my true age will never know."

"Does Olena know that you are this way?" I nod.

"I had to tell her a few years ago, I never aged, she was confused and I had to tell her for her own sake."

"How did she take it?"

"I never really knew, I still don't. She loves me, but she doesn't like what I did." Rose nods. She looks down at the ground and sighs.

"So you found me here... what happened to my parents?"

"I don't know, I just found you here Rose."

"Um... can I stay here for a moment, alone?" I nod. "You can go inside if you want." I shake my head.

"It's late; I'm not leaving you out here alone."

"But I'll only be right here, everything will be alright."

"Are you sure?" She nods.

"And if something does happen I have a loud scream."

"That doesn't make me feel any better." She smiles.

"I'm sorry." I shake my head.

"It's fine. If anything happens, the littlest of thing, I want you to come inside right away and find me, alright?" She nods.

"Yes,"

"Ok." I kiss her forehead.

"Be in soon." She nods and kisses my cheek. Rosemarie and I release hands and then I walk into the bar. I walk past men and go to the bar where I can get some drinks. I decide not to drink anything with alcohol because I am driving us home and while I am ordering some water a man sits down next to me and orders a scotch. He looks towards me as my water is set down in front of me.

"Rough night?" He asks me with sarcasm in his voice.

"Sort of, but I'm driving home so I don't want to drink. You?"

"It's rough; this is the anniversary of the night I left my daughter, in the alley of this very bar."


	13. Chapter 13

**The Year 1915**

**March 26th**

"You left your daughter behind the bar in the alley?" I ask the man. He looks up at me and nods.

"Yes, I did."

"Why?"

"It's a long story."

"I have time." He looks back up at me and then finishes his drink.

"My girlfriend, now my wife, and I got pregnant when we were still teens. Somehow we managed to hide it from our parents and then we had the baby. A little girl. We didn't know what to do so around six months later we picked the baby up from my sister's house, she was watching the baby for us, and we were walking, talking about what to do we got here. We couldn't let the baby go to an orphanage and we couldn't tell our parents about the baby so we left her here. We didn't know what would happen with her. When we got home my sister was with our parents, she told them about the baby. When they confronted us about her they said that we would get married and raise the baby. We hadn't yet told them that we left her, when we did they were upset with us and made us go get her, but she wasn't here. To this day we don't know where she is, what happened to her. The two of us got married and got a house, I got a job. Every year on this night I come back here, drink myself to the point of passing out. The two of us were never able to have children again; maybe God was punishing us for what we did. We left our baby on a cold night to die. I deserve to go to hell. She was prefect, everything to me. I loved her so much, I still do. How could I do that to my daughter?" He rests his head down on the bar and takes in a few deep breaths. "She's probably dead; I wish I knew she was ok. I want my baby girl back, she would be fifteen. She looked just like me, but she had her mother's eyes... fuck." The bartender comes over and sets down another drink in front of the man. He picks up the glass and drinks it. "Do you have children? I know you're young, but do you?"

"Not ones of my own, but I've raised a child." He nods and takes another sip of his next drink.

"I should just keep drinking until I die. I don't deserve anymore years on this Earth." He finishes his drinks so quickly and just continues to take what is given to him. He's going to make himself sick.

"Dimitri!" I look behind me and see Rosemarie standing in the bar. I rise from my seat and see her notice me. She begins to walk to me and I don't know what to do. I'm sitting next to her father, her biological father. Rosemarie smiles when she gets to me and places her hand onto my bicep. "Thank you for letting me be alone out there." I nod. She notices the man and the man looks towards her. He stares at her for a long time before sitting up straighter. I notice him looking into her eyes; Rosemarie noticed it as well and looks up at me. "Um, Dimitri, are you ready to go back to the house?"

I place my hand onto her shoulder. "Rosemarie, go to the car, I'll be there in a minute." She looks back at the man and then nods. Rosemarie leaves the bar and I look back at the man.

"H-her eyes... they look like my wife's. How old is that girl?"

What should I do? Tell him that this is his daughter? Or lie? I don't know, I don't want to have to share Rosemarie anymore then I already do, but this is her father. Damn, what do I do?

"She's fifteen." I answer him. His eyes light up. "Here, I need to get her home, it's late."

"But..." I write down our telephone number onto a piece of paper I found in my pockets and then hand it to me. "Call me, please." He looks up at me and nods. "And sir, please stop drinking. Go home, call me when you can." He nods. "Goodnight sir."

"It's Ibrahim, Abe." I nod.

"Alright, goodnight Ibrahim." He nods and looks down at the number as I leave the bar. I walk to the car and get into the driver's seat.

"Who was that?" Rosemarie asks me.

"I can't explain now, it's time to go home, it's late."

"Dimitri, may I sleep in bed with you tonight?"

"Of course you may, why wouldn't you be able to?" I ask her. She looks over at me as we stop at a red light and I look towards her.

"Because of what I told you earlier, that I feel sexually towards you and you said just yesterday that I wouldn't be having any sexual relations with anyone until I'm married."

"Rosemarie, I love you, and I do believe in everything I said yesterday, and I know I am going to be a very hypocritical, but I only truly felt that way towards you because I didn't want to see you with anyone, because I would be very jealous and upset. But now that it's me, I can imagine the two of us being together before marriage, if we ever do get married, but I don't think it's a very good idea. There are all these different things that can happen if we do sexual things before marriage, we could get pregnant which means you would need to drop out of school and Christian and Natasha wouldn't understand how it happened because we wouldn't be able to tell them that the baby is mine and... We shouldn't do anything yet is what I'm trying to say. Plus I haven't even taken you out, spent time with you."

"But you've known me since I was a baby. You raised me, we know each other better than anyone else, and we know each other better then we know ourselves. Are you nervous that we are going to be going too fast? How would we be able to do that? We've known each other for almost fifteen years."

"I don't know Rosemarie."

"I can get married any day now, Dimitri."

"Are you saying you want to marry me?" She looks back at me as we begin to drive again.

"Dimitri, I love you, I love you but I'm not ready for marriage yet. I know I would like to be married one day, but I would like to finish school first, which should only be in a year or so. I don't even know why this has become such a big conversation, it started off with sexual relations between the two of us and now we are talking about marriage." She sighs. "I'm tired."

"I know you are." I place my hand onto her thigh. "I know you are, Rosemarie." We pull up at the house and head upstairs. While I change into my pajamas Rosemarie changes into her dressing gown. When she walks inside I smile at her. She's damn beautiful. She pulls a black ribbon out of her hair and gets into the bed as her hair falls to her back. I get into the bed besides her and we cuddle up next to each other.

"I love you, Dimitri."

"I love you, too, Rose. I love you, too."


	14. Chapter 14

**The Year 1915**

**April 1st**

"Oh God we're up so high!" Rosemarie says as we ride in a Farris Wheel. I decided to take Rosemarie to the in town carnival while it's here, it will only be here for a few more days and she's really wanted to go. "Have you ever been so high before?" I shake my head.

"No, I have not." I tell her. Rosemarie looks up at me and smiles.

"Thank you for doing this with me tonight." I look down at her.

"Of course, Roza." She cocks her head.

"What does that mean?"

"It's Rose in Russian."

"Oh, I like it."

"I'm glad you do." She leans into me and I wrap my arm around her shoulder. "Roza, would you like to go to dinner after this?"

She nods. "Yes, I'm getting hungry. Where would you like to go?"

"I don't know, we'll decide when we get to that discussion." She nods and rests her head on my chest. When we get to the top of the Farris Wheel she sits up straighter and smiles.

"It's beautiful up here."

"Yes, it is." I feel something appear inside me and I look down at Rose. "But it's not as beautiful as you are." Rosemarie looks up at me and smiles.

"Thank you Dimitri." I place my hand onto her hip and gently pull her closer to me. "What are you doing?"

"Don't talk." I tell her. She raises her eyebrows and then her eyes grow wide as I lean down and lightly press my lips to hers. She lets out a small gasp. This is our first kiss. It's a perfect first kiss. We're on a Farris Wheel and at the very top. The sun is setting, making the light that falls onto Rose make her look like an angel. My angel. Rose brought happiness to my life at my darkest of times. It had been two years since I was banned from Hell, I couldn't feel emotions, and the only time I left my house was to go out and get beer so I could get drunk, forget what was happening around me. When I met Rose she made everything better for me, made me feel again. Rosemarie is my beautiful release.

I bend back and stare down at her. Her eyes are still closed, her lips are slightly parted. Slowly her eyes open and she looks up at me.

"You kissed me." She says. I lick my lips and nod.

"Yes, I did... are you upset?" She shakes her head.

"No, I'm not upset." We begin to go back down and she looks out, up at the sky, then back at me.

"Dimitri, will you kiss me again?" She asks me. I nod and lean back in. She closes her eyes again and we kiss for the second time. I feel her mouth part and I copy her. We continue to kiss until we get to the bottom of the Farris Wheel. The two of us get out and begin walking to the car.

"So, where would you like to go to dinner?" She asks me. I look down at her for a moment and then shake my head.

"I changed my mind, let's eat at home." She doesn't ask why as we get into the car and head home. When we get there neither Vera, Ivan, nor Brand is in sight. Rosemarie begins walking to the kitchen but I grab her hand and stop her. "Let's go to the bedroom, I think Vera may be out getting things for the week."

"Oh yes, I remember you telling her that we were out of bread earlier." She nods towards the staircase and we walk upstairs. The two of us walk into the bedroom, her first. I close the door and look around at her. "So, what would you like to do before Vera gets back?" Rosemarie asks as she turns around. I don't answer as I walk to her. I place my hands onto Rosemarie's hips and pull her close to me again.

"Rosemarie, the kiss we had on the Farris Wheel was my first kiss in almost eighteen years." I tell her. She places her hands onto my chest and nods, telling me to go on. When we kissed I remembered how I felt during those kisses, then I realized they were nothing compared to that little peck on the lips. You are everything to me, my dreams, and my life. You are my soul-mate Roza. And in the next few years I will make you my wife." Rose's fingers grips the white fabric of my shirt and she nods once more. I stare down at her for another moment and then bend downwards. Right as my lips are about to brush against hers we hear a loud curse. The two of us break apart and immediately leave the bedroom. I keep Rosemarie behind me as we walk downstairs and to the den room. I walk inside first and pause at what I see. I feel Rose's hands on my back.

"What it is?" She asks me. "What's going on?"

I don't reply as I step into the room. In the middle of the floor is Christian, he's on the ground, sitting. He must have fallen backwards. Ivan is standing only a foot away from him, looking shocked. He's holding that hardbound book from the other night. The most shocking thing to me is what is in front of Christian. The Lissa doll, but she is no longer a foot tall doll, she is a life human being. Flesh and all.

* * *

**I know this chapter is shorter then the others but I really wanted to get it out and it's past my bedtime so I don't want to get in trouble, I hope you all liked the chapter. **

**-Rosemarie Alanna**


	15. Chapter 15

**The Year 1915**

**April 1st**

"What the hell did the two of you do?" I ask them. They look up towards me and begin to look nervous.

"What? What is it?" Rosemarie asks me. She tries to dodge around me and I stop her.

"What the hell did the two of you do?" I ask once more. Christian gets off of the ground and stares down at Lissa. She looks just like the doll her did. Pale white skin, silky blonde hair, and if she opens her eyes I bet she'd her green ones.

"Dimitri let me into the room!" Rose whines before pushing past me and inside. Rose pauses like I did when she sees that her doll is alive, breathing, not a porcelain thing she used to sleep with in bed. She looks up at me and then back at Christian and Ivan. "What did the two of you do?"

**April 2nd, early in the morning**

"I cannot believe you!" I yell at Ivan. "You turned Rosemarie's doll into a goddamned human being!"

"Yes, for Christian, the doll is his soul-mate."

"Impossible!"

"Really? You and Rose saw each other when you did the test, he saw the doll, Lissa is his soul-mate and now that she is human they can be together. You should have seen the look in his eyes when he saw her as a human being. He looked so happy and overjoyed. She is his soul-mate, Christian is so happy now that she is alive, can't you see that?"

I run a hand through my hair and take in a deep breath. "I... I can't do this right now; I have to go help Rosemarie."

"How is she?"

"She's pissed that you changed her childhood toy from me into a human being, but other then that, she's happy to have a new "girlfriend." I leave the room and go to the bedroom. When I walk inside Rosemarie is sitting on the bed, dressed in her dressing gown. It was late by the time we figured out what Ivan and Christian had done. Neither of us had gotten sleep since last night, well, this morning technically. Rosemarie looks exhausted, she looks like I feel. I change into my clothes and then sit down besides her.

"I want to sleep." I nod.

"I know, let's get some sleep." She nods and we lay down in the bed. I wrap my arms around her and I hold her close to me. I kiss the top of her forehead.

"They turned my doll into a human being... that was one of my favorite things that you gave me when I was a child, other then the necklace and a few other things. I loved that doll... now she's a human." I place my hand onto her lower back and gently rub it.

"Would you like another doll?" She shakes her head.

"No... I can't be mad at Christian, he just wanted his soul-mate, and I can understand that." She kisses my cheek and closes her eyes. "I love you."

"I love you... goodnight."

**April 2nd**

"Hello?" I ask into the houses telephone.

"H-hello... this is Abe, from the bar." My fingers stop tapping on the wall and I inhale deeply. "This is the right number, correct?"

"Yes, yes..."

"Great, so about the girl who came into the bar to find you... I swear she had my wife's eyes. I swear she did. I would do anything to see her again, to meet her, see if she's anything like I or my wife. Please sir, I don't know your relationship with her, but I would like to know if you could connect me with her. Is there anything you could do?"

I look out of the window and into the backyard. I see Rosemarie out with Christian. Lissa is sleeping upstairs, she hasn't woken up yet. Christian is worried about it, very worried, but Ivan managed to calm him down, told him that she most likely hasn't woken up yet because of her new body and its improved nature, she's trying to become accustomed to it, once she is she will awaken. Rosemarie is talking loudly, angrily at Christian. I don't know what she's saying, but I know she's upset with him, trying to get something through to him. This is Rosemarie's father... if I don't let her meet her father I will feel guilty for the rest of my years. I will never be able to forgive myself, and if she finds out that she had the chance and is angry, she might not ever want to be with me again, I can't let that happen.

"Are you free tonight?" I ask him. I hear him doing something.

"Yes, I am."

"Um..." I think of a place Rosemarie would feel comfortable going; somewhere where she won't second guess me, ask what I'm doing. "Can you meet us at the park sometime around three or four?"

"Yes, absolutely, I can."

"Alright, one a clock today, we'll be there."

"Thank you... thank you so much."

"Of course." I hear him let out a breath and then hang-up the phone. I look back out the window and see Rosemarie walking back into the house. She looks upset.

"Rosemarie,"

"I don't want to speak to him anymore, please make him leave." She tells me. I look back at Christian as he walks into the house.

"Rose-"She cuts him off.

"No, get out, now!"

"No, I will not, she's up there and hasn't woken up yet, I will stay here until she awakens." Christian says, talking of Lissa. I see something ignite in Rosemarie's eyes and she glares at him.

"Get out of my house, _now_." She says as he hands grip her dress.

"Why do you want me to leave?"

"I want you to leave because I hate you! Get out of my house now, Christian!" Rosemarie grips more of her dress and storms out of the room. I hear her heading upstairs, to the bedroom. I look at the door where she left and then look at Christian. He's staring at the dark door, a shocked look on his face. He blinks a few times and then looks towards me.

"Um... I'll be going... call me if she wakes please." Christian walks out of the room and I stand in my spot as he leaves the house. Once I hear the front door close I go up to the bedroom. She isn't in the master bedroom, but I hear something in the bathroom. I walk over to the door and gently knock.

"Rosemarie, I'm coming in." I open the door and step into the room. I stop when I see Rosemarie standing besides the tub as it fills. She's in only her undergarments. I take in a breath and close the door behind me. "Rosemarie, why on Earth did you say that to Christian?"

"I hate him."

"No you don't, you've been friends with him for years, since you were a baby, and you can't hate Christian."

"I do and I will continue too." I walk closer to her and place my hands onto her biceps.

"Rosemarie, why are you thinking this way? What did he do?" She looks down into the water as it fills the tub. "Rosemarie, answer me."

"Ever since doing that god dammed soul-mate test he's been all over that doll, that's all her talks about. Lissa this, Lissa that, I wonder what she'll be like, I wonder it she'll love me, I'm sick of it." She shuts off the water and begins to strip. I don't turn around and she doesn't tell me to. I've seen her naked plenty of times, neither of us mined. Not until she removes her top garment. It falls to the floor and I inhale, knowing that if she turns around I'll loose it. She's gotten so mature over these years, mentally and physically. I should have turned around, Rosemarie is no longer that little girl, she is now a young adult, her body is completely different then the last time I saw it. Rosemarie begins to work on her bottom garment and I turn. "I don't care what we talk about as long as it's not about bloody Lissa!"

"You're jealous."

"I am not, I'm just pissed." She tells me. I look back at her over my shoulder and see her dropping her bottoms before I can look away I see a glimpse of her body. It's perfection.

"Yes Rosemarie, you are, for so long it has just been the two of you and now she is brought into the picture, you don't like it. You used to be the only girl in his life... you don't like that another one is now going to be in it." She doesn't answer as she gets into the tub.

"I don't care anymore; I'm going to take my bath and then sleep."

"You can't, we're going out in a few hours."

"Out... out where?"

"We're going to the park. We will be meeting someone there."


	16. Chapter 16

**The Year 1915**

**April 2nd**

"Why is that man from the bar here?" Rosemarie asks me. I look down at her and then up at Abe who is looking everywhere, looking for Rose. I stop walking and turn towards her. "Dimitri what aren't you telling me?" I place my hands onto her shoulders.

"Rosemarie, he's here because he asked to see you."

"And you're letting him? A complete stranger?"

"He isn't a complete stranger Rosemarie." I look back at him and then at Rose. They look so much alike. "Rosemarie that man... he's your father." She watches me for a long moment, not sure about what to think.

"My father?" I nod.

"Yes, Rosemarie that man is your father, I found out at the bar. He was getting drunk and was telling me about the child he left in the alley fifteen years ago. I told him to call, and he did. He wants to meet you, see if you are his child or not." I look over at him and see that he's seen us, he's watching us. "Would you like to talk to him privately?"

"I don't want to talk to him at all." She tells me.

"W-what?" I ask her. "What do you mean you don't want to talk to him?"

"I don't want to talk to him, why would I?"

"Because he's your father, I thought you would want to talk to him about what happened, when we were in the bar he said that doing what he did was the biggest mistake he'd ever made... don't you want to hear his side of the story, why he did it?"

"No, I don't, he abandoned me behind a bar. There is nothing more to it. He didn't have to do what he did, but he did. I'm going home now." Rosemarie turns and begins to walk away; I stop her by grabbing her hand.

"Rosemarie, are you sure?" I ask her. "Talk to him, for just a minute, you have no idea how excited he was over the phone when I told him he had the chance to meet you. You'll crush him." She rips her hand from mine.

"He left me there to die, I don't want to see him, and I will never want to see him. Never." She begins to walk away from me and her father. I stare after her as she walks to the car. "Rosemarie!" She stops and looks back at me. "I'll be there in a moment, alright?" She nods and gets into the car. I turn towards Abe and see his face; he's trying to hide how hurt he is. I walk over to him.

"So... she doesn't want to talk to me."

"No, she doesn't... I'm sorry." He looks back at Rosemarie and nods.

"I understand..."

"She's yours." I tell him. "I knew from the moment I met you. I know Rosemarie's story, she's yours."

He nods. "If you don't mind, would you tell me how you know her... your relationship with her?"

"Um, I have known Rosemarie for many, many years. A little less then fourteen years."

"But she's only fourteen. And you can't be more then twenty-six."

"I met her when I was ten."

"Through who?"

"Family."

"So, you're just a family friend... who took her in?"

"My family." I answer. "This is very hard to explain, and Rosemarie is waiting for me."

"Her name is Rosemarie?"

"Yes, it is. And no, I am not just a family friend... Rosemarie and I are... we're engaged." I tell him.

"Dimitri!" I hear Rosemarie yell from behind me. I look back at her and see her ready to push the cars horn. I look back at Abe, his face is blank.

"You... you're engaged to my daughter..."

"Yes, I am. I must go now, I don't want to upset her anymore then she already is." I nod once and then walk to the car. I get into the drivers seat and drive away from the park.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me."

"I apologize; I thought you would want to meet him."

"Well you were wrong." I see her resting her head on the window. She lets out a breath through her nose and then looks towards me. "He abandoned me. He left me in an alley to die. He didn't care what would happen to me, he didn't. I don't understand how he could want to meet me, if he wanted a relationship with me, he shouldn't have left me."

"When we were at the bar he told me that he and your mother, his wife, were only teens when they had you and were nervous and scared. They left you there and I don't understand why they would want to leave you there. Why they did, I just know that they were young and stupid, they shouldn't have done it, but they had there reasons."

"If I got pregnant young, unmarried to someone other then you, and I told you, I know you would want to kill him and then me, and I would be scared, but I would tell you. For my baby." I look towards her and than take her hand.

"I am sorry for not having told you, not having talked to you about it."

"It's alright..."

I don't want to go home."

"Where would you like to go then?"

"I don't know..."

"Rosemarie... when I was talking to your father, he asked who I knew you, I told him family, and when he asked if I was just a family friend, I told him that we were engaged."

"And?"

"And what?" I ask as I look towards her. "I want you to tell me what you think about that."

"I think that you telling him that is fine. You can tell anyone that we are engaged and I would not mind. We are soul-mates it will happen one day, someday. I can't be upset at you; I won't be upset with you because I physically cannot. I love you, and I will one day love to be engaged to you."

For a few more minutes we ride in silence.

"Only a year left of school... a year, I can't believe it. It truly feels like only yesterday you were a little girl, you refused to eat your greens, I would have to dress you because you couldn't do it for yourself, I would brush your hair and read to you and you would giggle almost every time I kissed your cheek."

"I still do, and I would mind if you would brush my hair still and read to me. I miss that." I smile and nod.

"I know where to take you now." I release Rosemarie's hand and then turn the car around. She doesn't question me.

**Later that night **

"That's horrid!" Rosemarie says as we lay in bed together. I smile and ask for her to turn the page of the book I got us from the local bookstore. It's _The Wizard of Oz_, the first book in the series. We began to read as soon as we got home, well after we changed clothes. Rosemarie is holding the book for me as I gently brush her hair. I read aloud to her and when I'm done with a page I ask her to turn them. I just read a gruesome part of the book and Rosemarie is astonished by it, she's never read anything like it before. I continue to read to her and a few pages later there is a knock at the door.

"You may enter." The door opens and Brand steps inside. "Yes?"

"Christian rang a short time ago and I didn't want to disturb the two of you, but I thought Rosemarie would want to know. Rosemarie, he wants to apologize for having upset you, even though he doesn't know what he did to you to make you hate him. He also said that he would be over tomorrow morning." I set down the hair brush and feel Rose inhale.

"Alright, thank you Brand." That is the last we talk about the topic.


	17. Chapter 17

**The Year 1915**

**April 3rd**

"Is Rosemarie upstairs?" Christian asks me as he walks into the living room. I look up at him and nod.

"Yes, she is."

"Dimitri, why is she so upset with me?" He asks as he removes his coat. I wrap my arms over my chest.

"She's jealous Christian. You can't tell her that though."

"Why is she jealous?"

"She's jealous that there is another woman in your life. She's used to being the only girl in your life other then your aunt. She doesn't like it... Rosemarie is happy that you've found someone, someone you'll want to be with for the rest of your life, but she's just getting used to not being able to be the only girl anymore. She'll be fine soon, and once Lissa wakes up I'm sure that they two of them will connect and become just as close as the two of you are."

Christian wraps his arms over his chest and nods. "I understand... can you get her for me? Please?" I nod.

"Of course," I leave the living room and go to the bedroom. I walk inside and see her in bed, her hair is sprawled out on the pillow, and her face is calm. She's beautiful. I walk over to the bed and lay down besides her.

"Christian is here." I tell Rosemarie as I gently rub her back. She makes a small sound as she begins to awaken. She opens her eyes and looks up at me.

"I don't want to get up, can I go back to sleep?" She asks me.

"He wants to talk to you."

"I don't want to talk to him." She replies. She pulls the pillow over her head and huffs. "I'm still tired."

"I know love, just get up, put on your robe, and talk to him. Please." She opens her eyes and looks up at me, pushing the pillow off her head.

"We were up so late."

"I know, but just do this, please. He wants to talk to you; he wants to make things up with you. Talk with him, please. You know you want too; you will always regret not speaking with him." She groans and gets out of the bed. She pulls on her robe and leaves the robe. "Have I ever told you you're stubborn?"

"More then once!" She replies. I smile and close my eyes for a moment when I do a blonde is standing in the doorway. I sit up in bed and see her green eyes wide.

"Lissa..."

"What's going on?" She asks me. "What happened? Why am I alive?"

I get out of the bed and walk to her. She doesn't seem scared. "What do you know? What do you _remember_?"

"Um... you're name is Dimitri, you gave me to my owner when she was a child, Rosemarie, yes that was her name. For years I was with her, she treated me so well, and then all of a sudden Christian, the dark haired boy with blue eyes did some sort of test and thought I was his soul-mate. I don't know why, and then before I knew it, things were black, and then I woke up in bed; I came here because I remember this room the most. Why did he change me? Why did Christian change me from a doll to a human?"

"Because he thinks you're the love of your life." I answer her. I place my hand onto her shoulder. "He's downstairs if you want to see him." Lissa nods and begins to head downstairs. I continue to stand near the doorway as Lissa walks downstairs. I don't want to pry on the conversations happening so I close the door and walk back over to the bed. After a few minutes Rosemarie walks into the room.

"The two of them are talking." She says. "When did she wake up?"

"A few minutes ago as far as I know."

"I don't want to be here while the two of them are getting to know each other; I'll get into the way."

"No you won't, and Christian will want the two of you to get closer. Why do you think you'll get into the way?"

"I don't know, I just do. Lissa apparently already knows me, I didn't know dolls took things in, and this is the first time they are really meeting. I want to go, let them be. Take me to the park?" I nod. Rosemarie changes clothes and then we head out to the park.

**An hour later**

Rose leans into me as we ride the carousal. We aren't on the horses, but in one of the little sit down areas for parents and couples, like us. I wrap my arms around her shoulder and kiss the top of her head.

"Rosemarie, I know you don't want to get into the way of Christian and Lissa but I think you should try to."

"I don't want to right now. I just want the two of them to get closer together. Can we please stop talking about this?"

"Yes," I answer. I don't want to push this on her. I don't want to upset her anymore then she already is. "Roza... how much longer until your summer break?"

"A week." She answers. "My school has it earlier then the other schools for some reason, I don't know why. But that wasn't what you were asking."

"It's fine... one week, can you leave early?"

"I guess, yes, the last two days of school we just mess around anyway. Why are you asking?"

"Roza, would you like to go to Paris?" I look down at her and she looks up at me.

"Paris?"

"Yes, Paris, we could go to the perfect hotel, I went there once, and it was amazing. While we're there we can go to all the great restaurants, we can go to the best shops, get the best dresses." I place my hand onto her thigh and gently grip it. "I'll get you anything you want."

"You don't need to get me anything... but that doesn't mean I wouldn't like anything, because I do like things. But I love you more then anything." I smile and kiss her gently.

"Alright, we are going to Paris."


	18. Chapter 18

**The Year 1915**

**April 11th**

"Paris! We're in Paris!" Rose says excitedly, a large smile is on her face and she is staring at the world around us. "I can't believe it!" I smile and take her hand.

"Yes we are, now let's hail a cab and then we can go to our hotel." She nods and wraps her arm around mine. I manage to hail one and then we drive to our hotel. Rose talks about all of the things she finds interesting as we drive. When we get there men who work at the hotel take our bags from the cab and into the hotel. I thank him, tip him, and then tell the man at the front of the desk my last name. He finds my reservation and a smile breaks onto his face. He begins to talk to me in French.

"Hello Mr. Belikov, it's a great surprise to have you back. You haven't aged a day." I smile as I recognize him. When I first came here he was just a boy who worked in the rooms, cleaning them. He worked on my room.

"Yes, it's great to be back. And I know I haven't aged much, I must have good genes. I see you've risen up on the ladder here."

"Yes, I have, I'm the manager now. I run this entire place."

"Good for you." He looks towards Rose and then back at me.

"So Mr. Belikov, is there a certain reason as to why you are here today?" He asks me. I smile and pull Rosemarie into my arms.

"Yes, there is, I'm here to have my honeymoon with my new wife here. Her name is Rosemarie." He smiles at her.

"She's quiet beautiful. Congratulations."

"Thank you," he nods and has someone show us up to our room. A grand suite. When we get to the room Rose instantly smiles and looks around the large suite.

"This is amazing! We get to stay here?"

"Yes, we do." I tip the man and he nods before leaving. "Would you like to see the bedroom?" She smiles and nods. The two of us take hands and walk into the large bedroom. It's gold, red, dark brown. It's a perfect honeymoon suite. A plush bed is set in the middle of the back wall, the walls are gold, and the sheets are red with brown embroidery. I could go on with all of the detail. Rosemarie walks over to the bed and sits down upon it. She smiles.

"It's so soft, yet firm... it's the most amazing mattress!" She lays back on it and I smile. I sit down next to her and she sits up. Rose places her hands onto my shoulders. "Thank you so much for taking me here. Thank you so much." She kisses my cheek and I smile as I wrap my arms around her. I kiss her forehead and slowly begin to trail my kisses down to her lips. When they get to them I kiss her gently. For a long time the two of us just kiss, it's simple, but sweet. The two of us break apart for a moment and then she raises her hands up to her dresses collar. She undo's the buttons that keep it together and when she gets to the button above her breasts I grab her hands. She looks up at me, slightly shocked. "Dimitri..."

"We can't."

"Why not? Don't you want me?"

"I do... oh damn I do, Rose, but we can't. In my life I have sinned, I have sinned many, many times, but I refuse to break that one. I will not have sex with you until we are married."

"Oh, alright."

"Are you upset about that?" I ask her, eyebrows raised.

"No, I just thought you would want to be with me..."

"Roza, I want to be with you. I do, but I can't do it until we are wedded. I can't."

"But you've done it before, I'm not trying to push you into this, but I'm just curious. Why is it so important if you've done it before?" She asks.

"Because you haven't done it before." I tell her. "You are a virgin, I will not take that away from you until we are married, and I am not going to change my mind about this. Roza, I've messed up so many times, and I don't want you too as well."

"Life is full of mistakes that people need to make. I need to make them to shape who I am. I'm not saying we need to have sex, just that I can make my own decisions, I need to make my own decisions. And my decision," she says as she begins to unbutton her dress again. "Touch me."

"R-Rose... I... no."

"Please." She says as she finishes her buttons. Rosemarie pushes off the fabric and looks up at me. She's dressed still from the waist down. Rose begins to remove her undergarments. "Please Dimitri, we won't have sex, all I want is for you to touch me. We are on our "honeymoon" after all." I taught Rosemarie French when she as ten. She picked it up very quickly. "Dimitri, touch me." She slips it off and it falls to the bed. I keep my eyes above her neck, at her face. Our eyes meet. I feel Rosemarie's hands on my thigh again. "Just once, I want to see what it's like, besides we are going to do it in the future. One our actual wedding night and honeymoon. It won't be long from now. Just a few more years." Rosemarie's hands take mine and I feel her pull them up to her chest. I take in a deep breath as she places my hands onto her breasts. Rosemarie closes her eyes for a moment and then reopens them. "So, that's what it feels like when someone else touches them."

"Do you touch them?" I ask her. She smiles and nods.

"Of course I do, I touch that and other things." I can't help the little smile that appears on my lips. She looks down at my crotch. "Don't you touch yourself?"

"I'm not going to lie to you, yes, I do." Rosemarie removes her hands from mine and my hands are now resting on them, I am doing this now with my own freewill. Damn they're amazing. I gently grip them and Rose smiles.

"Wow that feels really good." I lean into her and kiss her lightly. After a few minutes of light groping the two of us lie down in the bed and continue on. Our kisses become faster and my hands take over. They slide down to her bare hips and I pull her lower body up to mine. I gently grind into them and she wraps her arms around my neck. For a few more moments the two of us kiss and I continue to grind into her, then I realize what I'm doing. I pull myself away from her body. I quickly move off of Rosemarie's body and off the bed. I walk over to the window and stare out of it, down at the people. I hear her breathing hard.

"We shouldn't have done that." I tell her. She doesn't answer me. "We can't do that again. If we do I won't be able to stop myself..."

"I understand..."

"Would you like to get some sleep? If we do now we won't have much jet lag in the morning from the time differences."

"I think I'll do that... I'll see you in a few hours." I don't turn around for a long time, when I do Rosemarie is no longer in her dress, but she has on the top of her undergarments again. She's already asleep.


	19. Chapter 19

**The Year 1915**

**April 12th**

When I open my eyes after just waking up Rosemarie is standing near the window where I was standing the day before. She's dressed in her robe and is brushing her wet hair. I continue to watch her as she finishes up. Rosemarie sets down the brush on the small table near a plush, comfortable looking chair. She sits down in it and stares out of the window. I sit up in the bed.

"Rosemarie, is there anything you would like to do today?" I ask her. She looks back at me and then looks back out of the window.

"No, not really, I'm still pretty tired and a little hungry."

"Would you like to get dressed? We can go out to a restaurant."

"Maybe in a few minutes." She leans her head on the back of the chair and closes her eyes.

"Are you still tired?"

"Yes, a little bit." I get out of the bed and walk over to her. I kneel down in front of her and place my hands onto her knees. "You're still upset from last night."

"I'm not upset,"

"You can continue to say it for as long as you like, Rosemarie, but I know you, I know when you are upset. Please don't be like this while we're here in Paris, please." She looks down at me.

"Fine, we can go out for lunch. I'll go get dressed." Rosemarie rises from the chair and I stand up, moving out of her way. Rosemarie leaves the bedroom and goes out to our luggage. I take a quick shower as she gets dressed. After I am dressed I leave the bedroom and see Rosemarie talking to someone at the door. A boy, not much older then her. She smiles at him and nods. "Yes, thank you." He nods and smiles back.

"Of course, I'll be here in a few hours, with that."

"Thank you," He exits and Rosemarie closes the door.

"Who was that?" I ask her.

"He works here." She looks back at me. "Are you ready to go?"

"Why was he here?"

"He asked if we needed anything. I asked if he could bring some more towels. He'll be back later tonight with some more." She puts on her coat. "Are you ready?" I nod and put on my own coat. The two of us leave the hotel room and go to a restaurant. We are seated right away, most likely due to the expensive-looking clothes we are wearing, they assume we have a lot of money, they aren't wrong. After I was banished I had enough money saved up from my boss, previous jobs, everything that I had enough to live for the rest of my life. My immortal life. The money I have will keep Rosemarie and I comfortable for millions of years... it will keep me comfortable for millions of years. As Rosemarie looks at her menu I watch her, she's young, fruitful. When Rosemarie and I have children they will be immortal, they will age to a certain point, and forever look that age. Rosemarie will not though, she will become old as I stay young. Rosemarie will die, and I will still be alive. The woman I love will die and I will never be able to get her back, never be able to fall in love. Our children will forever be the reminder of my deceased wife... I have to find a way to keep her alive.

**Later that day**

"This is beautiful." Rosemarie says as she examines a dress that she sees in a store window. It is beautiful, and expensive. I can afford it, but I want her to have something better. I take Rosemarie's hand. "Let's go inside."

"Are we going to get it?" She asks me. "The dress, are we going to get it?"

"No, we aren't." The two of us walk into the store and a woman walks over to us.

"Can I help the two of you?"

"Yes, I would like to get a dress for my wife." I tell her, I decide to continue to call Rosemarie my wife while here in Paris; there is no reason for me not to. She smiles at Rosemarie.

"Alright, we have many dresses, if you would like more there are some dresses in the back."

"I'm not interested in any of the dresses here; I want something original, something that shows her. I want to have a dress designed for her, and made; I'll need it before the two of us go back to America in a few weeks."

"Oh, Sir, dresses are very expensive, and they take a very long time to make. A specially designed it more expensive then anything out, and if you want something to be made more quickly that will cost more as well."

"I can afford it, trust me, I can afford it." She nods and clasps her hands in front of her body.

"Alright, would the two of you like to go into the back? The designer of all of theses dresses is back there, you can plan for the dress then."

"Thank you," she shows us to the back and we meet the designer. For an hour the three of us talk about a dress for Rosemarie. It's going to be amazing. After we're done the two of us leave the store and go back to the hotel room.

"Thank you for getting me that dress Dimitri, I can't wait to get it."

"I'm glad you like it, you will look amazing in it." She smiles and leans into me.

"I like you calling me your wife." She tells me.

"Do you?"

"Yes, Rosemarie Belikova... I like the sound of it."

"As do I." I say with a grin. "I love the sound of that... you with my last name..." The two of us get to the hotel and go upstairs. When we get there the man is standing outside with the towels. Rosemarie smiles and I take them from him.

"Thank you," she says. He smiles and nods. I catch him taking a peek at her breasts and I feel myself becoming defensive.

"Do you need anything else?"

"No, we do not." I tell him, face hard. "That is all we need. Thank you." I unlock the door and I take Rosemarie's hand, I pull her inside.

"What was that about?" Rosemarie asks me. "Why did you get so defensive?"

"That man was looking at your breasts. I don't like that."

"How could he be looking at my breasts? They are entirely covered in fabric." She says as she removes her jacket.

"He can still look at them." I remove my coat. "I don't want you to talk to him anymore, Rosemarie, if he comes by ignore him. Please. I am not telling you what to do; I just don't like you speaking with him."

"I understand." She tells me as she sits down in a chair near the fire place. I sit down across from her in another chair. The two of us are quiet for a long time. "Dimitri... have you been with anyone within the last few years? Romantically. Have you been with anyone after you found me?"

I look up at her. "What do you mean by been with them? Full on sex, or just a kiss?"

"Does it matter? Have you been with someone?"

"I... I haven't had sex with anyone..."

"So... you did do something with someone though?"

"Uh... not technically, I didn't do anything. But she did."

"Who? What happened?"

"I... one night when you were around seven Natasha and Christian came over, when the two of you were in the backyard she... she kissed me. It was so sudden, and I stopped it instantly. Neither of us has done anything since, I told her that I was not interested in her and that was the end of that."

Rosemarie nods as she stares into the fire. "Thank you for telling me..."

"Of course." I stand up from the chair and walk over to her. I kiss her forehead. "Want to read? I got the next book in the _Wizard of Oz _series. Want to go to the bedroom and read it?" She smiles and nods.

"Yes, I do." She smiles and I take her hands. She stands up from the chair and we walk to the bedroom, my arms wrapped around her waist.


	20. Chapter 20

**The Year 1915**

**April 15th**

"It's so cold!" Rosemarie says as she dips into the water of a lake. I smile and jump in next to her. Rose screams and then laughs as I rise back above the water. I swim to her and wrap my arms around her waist. I lift her up and kiss her forehead. She laughs and wraps her arms around my neck. "This water is freezing."

"I know, we'll get used to it." I pull Rosemarie closer to me and kiss her neck gently. I kiss her neck a few times and she giggles. For a long time I hold her in my arms, we wade in the water and after a few minutes she pushes away from me. I watch her as she moves back around six inches and then splashes water at me. I close my eyes just in time and I smile before splashing her back. She screams and we continue to splash each other until she yells at me to stop. "Are you alright?" I ask, knowing she's just fine.

"Yes, I am." She smiles at me and runs a hand through her hair. Rosemarie lets her arms out towards me and I swim into them. I wrap my arms around her again and she kisses my own neck. I smile and move my hands to her back, Rosemarie's arms wrap around my waist. I rest my head on her shoulder. She presses a kiss to my shoulder and I look up at her.

"I love you, Roza."

"I love you, too, Dimitri." She bends down and kisses me, hard. I move my hands down to her thighs and we continue to kiss. The water is now warm, comfortable. Rosemarie stops kissing me and bends back slightly.

"Um... should we stop?" She asks me.

"Why would we?" I ask her. "We're just kissing."

"Yes but..." she trails off for a moment and then looks down. I watch her for a moment and then do the same. I inhale and move her farther up on my body. She is now resting on my stomach. I have an erection. I didn't have one the other night, but right as it started I realized what I was doing and moved off of her body. "I know it's natural and a part of sex... but I thought you wanted to wait for sex until we are wedded?"

I set Rosemarie down and nod. "You are right... I hadn't noticed it." I'm sure I would have in a few minutes as it got harder. "We should go back to the hotel room, and then how about going out somewhere new?"

She nods. "That sounds great." The two of us get out of the water and as I begin to change into dry clothes I think about things that will get me soft. I eventually get something and as soon as I'm down Rosemarie and I get into the car we rented for the day. We get to the hotel and after we get washed and changed we spend the day out, not speaking of the incident in the lake.

**May 1st**

We spent such a long time in Paris. The weeks we spent there were amazing. The two of us are now on the drive home. We have many new memories and things, including her dress. She hasn't worn it yet; she's waiting for a special event. When we get to the house we walk to the living room and see Lissa and Christian with each other, on the couch. They look back at us and instantly smile.

"I can't believe you're back!" He says as he jumps from the couch, he runs to Rosemarie and she runs to him. They throw their arms around each other and hold each other for a long time. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you; too, I am so sorry for how I acted."

"No, I'm sorry; I shouldn't have acted like _I _did. You are my best friend and I don't want that to end. I love Lissa, but I also love you." The two of them break apart and look back at Lissa.

"I'm glad you have her, and Lissa, I'm glad you're alive. I can't wait to get to know you better." The blonde haired green eyed girl smiles and stands up from the couch.

"I can't wait either. Rosemarie, you are going to be my best friend. I just know it. You've always been great to me, and I know that won't change. Even after the wedding."

"Wedding?" I ask the two of them. "What wedding?"

Christian looks back and Lissa and she walks over to him. I notice that Lissa is dressed in a dress I got her before leaving; I got her a few before leaving for Paris with Rosemarie. Christian takes her hand and presses a kiss to it.

"Lissa and I are getting married. We want it to be done soon, before mine and Rosemarie's last year in school." I look down at Rosemarie and see her watching Christian.

"You both are getting married?"

"Yes, we are, what do you think about that?" He asks her. Rosemarie steps closer to him and wraps her arms around him, she pulls Lissa into it. After they break apart she smiles at the two of them.

"I'm happy about it, I am. Can I be in the wedding?" She asks. The two of them smile and nod.

"Of course you can be in the wedding." Christian tells her. The three of them hug again and then Rosemarie looks back at me.

"Christian and Lissa are getting married." She says. I nod and smile when she puts out her hand. I step forward and take her hand. Rosemarie breaks apart from the two of them and then hugs me. She kisses my cheek. "Can I tell them? Please, can I tell them? I'll make them not tell anyone, we can trust them, they won't tell. Dimitri please?"

"Yes, you may tell them." I hear her let out a breath as she smiles.

"Thank you," Rosemarie breaks apart from me and looks back at the two of them. "Christian, Lissa... there is something I have to tell the two of you." Before Rosemarie can tell them the door to the kitchen opens up and Natasha walks inside.

"Dimitri, Rosemarie, the two of you are home... have Lissa and Christian told you about the engagement?"

"Yes, they have." I tell her. "They just did."

"Oh yes, how was the trip to Paris?" Christian asks us. Rose smiles and takes his hands. The three of them sit down on the couch and begin to talk about the trip. She doesn't tell them about our relationship, just what we did. I look up at Natasha who motions for me to meet her in the kitchen. I walk after her and into it.

"What do you need, Natasha?" She watches me for a long moment and then throws herself at me. I place my hands onto her hips and pry her away from me. "Natasha, what the hell? This is the second time you've done this. The first time you did this I told you that I would never have any romantic feelings towards you. That has not changed."

"Oh come on, Dimitri! We're getting older! Soon I won't be able to bare children anymore, and you are getting older as well even though you don't look like it. Be with me Dimitri, make me you're wife, we would be so amazing together."

"No, no, I love someone else. I'm sorry." I leave the kitchen and see Rosemarie watching me as Christian talks about something.

"What was that about?" She asks me. Christian stops talking and him and Lissa look towards me.

"We'll talk about it later tonight."


	21. Chapter 21

**The Year 1915**

**December 20th**

Rosemarie was very upset when I told her about the kiss, but she couldn't speak up about it to Natasha because it could jeopardize our relationship. It's been a few months since getting back from Paris and it is now Christian and Lissa's wedding day. Rosemarie is going to be Lissa's maid-of-honor. I am going to be Christian's best man. As I fix my tie the door opens to the dressing room. Rosemarie smiles and walks over to me.

"Hello," she says. I smile at the dress she is wearing. It's beautiful. Because Lissa was a doll for so many years she doesn't have any people to come to the wedding so it is very small. No one cares though; Christian and Lissa love each other, which is all that matters. Rosemarie hugs me and I hug her back. "I can't believe its Christian and Lissa's wedding day. I can't believe it." The two of us break apart. "They get married in only ten minutes. Wow. They are going to be a married couple..."

**After the Wedding**

The wedding was amazing. It was simple, and perfect, I like smaller weddings. But Rosemarie does not, during the reception Rosemarie told me of her dream wedding, a beautiful wedding dress like no other, a grand venue, lots of people, she wants a large wedding. And I'm not going to fight her about it. I don't care about what happens at the wedding as long as she's the one I am marrying. After the reception Lissa and Christian went off for their honeymoon which I payed for as a wedding gift. Christian couldn't thank me enough. During the past few months Christian got a job and managed to get enough money to afford a house for him and Lissa, they move into it when they get back. They won't be home for Christmas, but promise to bring us something back from where they are going, Rosemarie and I already have a present for them.

"Dimka, are you ever going to marry Rosemarie?" My mother asks me as we sit in the den room around nine at night. I look up at her. She's sitting in a chair across from mine and was reading a book before speaking.

"What?"

"When are you going to marry Rosemarie?"

"Um... I don't know, she wants to finish school before we get married."

"So, in a year? A little less, a little more?"

"I don't know mother, Rosemarie and I will be married when we want to get married."

"I think you should do it soon."

"Mother, it will be soon. Trust me, it will be soon. I don't want to wait long to marry Rose. I love her, and I will soon marry her."

"I want you to marry her before I pass away, son."

"Mother, that won't happen anytime soon."

"Dimka, I am getting older, I will not be around for much longer now. I want you to marry that girl before I die. All I want is to see the two of you wed, and hopefully see my future grandchild." I set down my book.

"Mother, I don't like talking about you passing away." I tell her.

"Why not? It's going to happen eventually."

"I know it is, but I don't want to talk about it anymore." My mother begins to speak but is cut off short by Rosemarie walking into the den room.

"Dimitri, I need your help with something." She tells me. I look towards her and nod.

"I'll be back in a few minutes mother." She nods and we leave the den room. Rosemarie and I go upstairs to her bedroom. "What do you need?" She turns around and looks back at me.

"When you were out getting new books there was a call. No one could get it so I did. It was him... my dad. I pretend to be Vera. He told me that he wanted to meet me, that he really wanted to meet me, get to know me, make up for lost time. I didn't know what to tell him and told him that I would call him back later. Dimitri I don't know what to do. Do I see him and get to know him? Or do I not? If I get to know him will I come to hate him or love him? If I don't meet him will I forever regret it? I am so confused on what to do. Help me, please." I walk closer to her and take her hands.

"Rosemarie, I think you should meet him. I do. I think you will come to regret not meeting him if you don't. Meet him and if you come to like him you won't have to see him anymore, if you do like him you can continue on with a relationship. In the end it all comes down to you. What you want." Rosemarie nods and squeezes my hands.

"I... I want to meet him, and my mom... I want to meet my parents."

**December 25th, early in the morning**

"I'm nervous."

"I know Rose, I know." I raise my hand and knock at the door. Rose's hands grips mine and I wrap my arm around her waist. The door is unlocked and then opens. Abe is standing there; he freezes as he sees Rosemarie.

"Ah..." Rose's hand loosens on my hand slightly.

"Um... hello, I'm Rosemarie... Merry Christmas."

After that Abe pulled Rosemarie into his arms. Rosemarie's body was tense at first, and after he let her go she loosened up again. He invited us inside and went to the living room. Rosemarie's mother, Abe's wife was in there, near the Christmas tree. She turns towards us and sees us. She instantly recognizes Rosemarie and stands up from her couch.

"Oh my God..."

"Janine... this is our daughter, Rosemarie."

For most of the day we stayed at Abe and Janine's house. We talked about a lot of things, things mainly surrounding what happened when Rosemarie was a baby and all of their lives after what happened. Abe and Janine never had children even thought they tried, they ended up just living their lives together with each other and each other only. They have friends, mostly work colleagues of Abe's. Rosemarie told them about how we met, and she told the truth. She told them that I found her behind the bar. She didn't tell them how old I was, they assume that I'm younger than I am and think that I was a young boy when I found her. Rosemarie told them that she lived with my family for a long time, still does, and the two of us eventually fell for each other and are now engaged. We couldn't change what I told Abe, he would question it and I wouldn't know what to tell them. It was eleven when we went home. Before we left Rosemarie and her parents held each other for a long time. When we got home and got into bed we were quiet for a few minutes.

"I want to see them again."


	22. Chapter 22

**The Year 1918**

**April 3rd**

The past two years went by quickly. Very fast paced. Rosemarie turned sixteen, then seventeen, and then eighteen. Christian and Lissa came back from their honeymoon and moved into their house. For their Christmas present from Rosemarie and me we got them furniture for their new house so that they wouldn't have to get it themselves. Rosemarie ended up wearing the dress she got in Paris to a dinner with her parents and their friends. They introduced the two of us and we had a long dinner together. Rosemarie finished school, and the two of us decided to travel again. For many months the two of us traveled around Europe. It was magnificent. We had so much fun; we did so many things together. Saw so many new things. When we got back Rosemarie celebrated her sixteenth birthday. Her family came over, and they met Christian, Lissa, Vera, Brand, Ivan, and my mother. Natasha did not come over, Rosemarie didn't want her too. She didn't like that she was after me and still was not over me even though I told her many times that I didn't like her that way.

The next year my mother continued to press marriage on Rosemarie and I. Rose's parents asked how long we were going to wait to get married, we said we wanted it to be the right time; we wanted it to be special. We didn't know when we wanted to do it, but since she was out of school I could purpose to her at anytime. Lissa got pregnant around the beginning of the year and she had her and Christian's first child in October. October second. They named their daughter Rosemarie because she was what brought them together. Rose was overjoyed, and she loves to babysit. So that we won't get the two mixed up when we talk about them or with them Rosemarie will continue to be called Rose, and the baby will be called Ro or Rosie instead. Around Christmas I got Rosemarie an engagement ring, but I didn't know when to ask her for her hand. In the Christian and Lissa decided to spend a night together, a romantic night together, so Rosemarie and I watched Rosie. Rosemarie will be an amazing mother. Rosemarie had her seventeenth birthday, and she surprised me on mine with a small little party with Ivan, my mother, Brand, and Vera. I was forty-two. During this entire time I had Ivan looking up ways to keep Rosemarie immortal. No way was found. But he hasn't stopped looking. Natasha ended up getting married, I didn't know much about him, but she seems happy. They are currently trying for children. One night when we all were free (Rosemarie, Christian, Lissa, Ivan, and I) we went out and Ivan did the soul-mate test. He found her. Her name is Florence, she moved her from France with her parents a few years ago. She is a chocolate brunette with hazel eyes. She's a few inches shorter then Rosemarie; she is a small woman, very delicate. Ivan loves her so much and married her almost instantly.

The next year Rosie celebrated her first birthday, we all went over to their house to celebrate it. Rosie is beautiful, not as beautiful as my Rosemarie, but still beautiful. She has her fathers beautiful black hair and her mothers green eyes. When she gets older I bet she will look similar to her mother when she was a doll. I turned forty-three, Rosemarie turned eighteen and my mother continued to press marriage. She was so excited when I purposed to Rosemarie, it was her birthday. I remember Rosemarie began to cry, I thought she was upset, she wasn't, just over-whelmed. She, of course, said yes. While planning the wedding Florence became pregnant. For a long time things were great, there were only a few months until the wedding and we were so happy together.

But then Rosemarie got a fever, she became nauseated, she had aches and had to be in the bathroom constantly. Then she began to have pneumonia attacks which included excessive sweating, shaking, chills, and a cough with phlegm that persisted, and began to have a loss of oxygen occasionally. I had to give her CPR for those cases. I called the doctor as soon as she began to get worse, when she first began to shake and sweat. She was getting sicker every single day.

Rosemarie caught the Spanish Flu, The Great Influenza of 1918.


	23. Chapter 23

**The Year 1918**

**April 3rd**

"How long?" I ask Rosemarie's doctor as we stand outside of the master bedroom. After Rosemarie was diagnosed Vera had to stop coming around to work, as did Brand. Ivan could come over, but Florence could not. My mother now lives with the two of them. We have not seen Christian, Lissa, and Rosie for so long. Rosemarie misses them, but understands why they can't come near her. Rosemarie's parents are worried sick about her, they are afraid that her daughter is going to die, they just came back into her life and they don't want to loose her. "How long until she dies?"

The doctor takes in a deep breath and then shakes his head. "Mr. Belikov, I am sorry, but you only have a few weeks left with her. Two or three if you're lucky."

I swallow and nod. "Thank you," he nods, tells me that he'll be back later in the week to check-up on her, and then leaves the house. I take in a deep breath and then walk into the bedroom. She's so fragile. Thin, pale, the doctor said that soon she will turn blue and get spots on her cheeks from the lack of oxygen. I close the door behind me and walk over to the bed. Rosemarie is asleep; thankfully, I don't want her to see me like she is about to. I kneel down by the side of the bed and take her hand. I gently squeeze it and rest my head on the edge of the bed. For years I didn't cry, not since my sisters died. But now I can't help it. Almost every night since she was diagnosed I've cried when she sleeps. She's dying. My fiancée' is dying. I raised her, watched her grow, mature, and right as I'm about to make her my wife she catches the flu and begins to die. She's dying! She's only eighteen, she is still a virgin, and we aren't married. We don't have children, she hasn't lived even lived a quarter of her life. I look up at her, see that she is still asleep and then cry harder. I'm sobbing, my body shakes hard, tears stream from my eyes. I stop when there is a tug at my arm. I look up and see Rosemarie watching me, breathing hard.

"Stop... please..." I nod and get onto the bed next to her. I wrap my arm over her gently and rest my head on her shoulder.

"Oh Roza... I've should have purposed to you earlier. Married you sooner."

"You had your reasons as to why you didn't. I understand..." She runs her weak hand through my hair. Suddenly she begins to cough; I sit up in the bed and pull her up into my arms. I hold her close to me, her head on my shoulder. Her coughs rack her body, they're horrible. After she stops, minutes later I lay her back down onto the bed. She closes her eyes. "That hurt..."

I don't speak. For a long time the two of us are quiet. I hear the phone ringing downstairs and kiss Rose's forehead before going downstairs. I answer.

"Hello?" I ask.

"It's Abe, how's Rosemarie?" Abe asks. I take in a deep breath.

"She... she's getting worse."

"How long did the doctor give her?" He asks.

"He said two to three weeks if we're lucky... we don't have long."

"I want to see her,"

"No, I refuse to let you get sick."

"Dimitri, she's my daughter. I love her; I need to see her before she dies." I inhale deeply and shake my head.

"I don't know Abe, you can see her soon, but you'll need a mask. I don't want you to get sick."

"Thank you, Janine will come too."

"Alright, we'll work out timing later; I need to get back to Rosemarie."

"I understand, goodnight."

"Goodnight Abe." After I hang up the door to the house opens. I walk to the staircase and see Ivan.

"Hello Dimitri, how's Rosemarie?" I don't answer. I walk to the living room and he follows. The two of us sit down. "Not good, huh?"

"No, not good at all. She's so sick... she has the worst coughing attacks, she's lost all of her natural color, she's thin... she's dying. Rosemarie is dying and there is nothing that I can do."

"Dimitri... I was thinking after I woke up about a possible way Rosemarie could become immortal..." I look up at him, willing for anything.

"What... what is it?"

"Do you remember when we were shot, when we died...?" I nod. "Well, we were taken by the Devil, and changed... maybe if she dies, the devil would do that same do the same for."

"No, no... He'll make her his lackey. She'll have to kill, she'll be in Hell. I will never have her again, and I refuse for her to have that life. I refuse. She won't be someone's right hand man, woman. No."

"It was just a thought; most likely nothing will ever happen like that. She's too good." I nod. "That's all I have, Dimitri, I am so sorry..." I look upstairs as I hear Rosemarie coughing again. I squeeze my eyes together, say goodnight to Ivan, and then go upstairs to her. I hold her for the rest of the night. Neither of us talks, the only sound is her hoarse, deadly coughing.

**April 24th**

The next morning I have to leave the house. I need to get things for Rosemarie. New blankets, she's getting colder every minute, the colder she feels the hotter she gets. She's turned blue, she can barely breath. Every day she dies. I die. I will never get over Rosemarie. Never. I pick up liquid foods, that's the only thing she can eat. I also get a book for me to read to her. I think she'll like it. After buying everything she needs I head back to the house. When I get home I head straight upstairs.

"I'm back Rosemarie," I tell her as I set down my bags. "I got you the things you need and a book. I really think you'll enjoy it. I know I will, I was thinking that after you eat tonight I could begin to read it to you, what do you think?" I ask her as I remove her blanket from the bag.

Silence. I set down the blanket and freeze. I don't hear breathing. I don't hear her breathing. I flip around and see Rosemarie in bed, head turned towards me, eyes wide open. Her chest isn't moving.

"No!" I run to her and pull her into my arms. Her body is limp, lifeless. "No... No... No... You can't be dead! You can't!" Her brown eyes stare into mine. They no longer have the brightness that they used to have. No! If she hadn't caught this dammed disease we would be getting marred in a week. May first. Damn it! I look up, towards the ceiling. "Bring her back! You bring her back to me, now!" I set Rosemarie down on the ground and stand up from the bed. "You fucking bastard! Bring her back to me!" I look down at Rosemarie and then drop to my knees. "No... Bring her back..." I begin to sob again. "Bring her back now... please. God please!"

I should have been here for her. For her last breath.


	24. Chapter 24

**The Year 1918**

**May 1st**

The phone rings, I don't move a muscle. It has been a week since Rosemarie died. I haven't left the bedroom since. I haven't moved from this spot, next to her, on the bed. Why can't I die? Why can't I go with her? I wish I was dead. I wish I was dead so that I wouldn't have to live like this, live without her. I turn my head towards her, she's staring up at the ceiling. I look up as well and then close my eyes. Kill me. Please. Someone kill me. I don't care how they do it; I just want to be dead. The phone rings again. I still don't move. I take in a deep breath and then roll onto my side. I place my hand onto Rosemarie's cheek.

"I miss you," I tell her. "I miss you so much. Today would be our wedding day. We would be getting married, you would become my wife, take my last name. Rosemarie Belikova. It sounds amazing. We would become pregnant not long after, we would have a little baby. I remember the names we decided. Halina if we had a girl and Stephan if we had a boy. I don't know when we would have wanted more children, or how many we wanted, but we would have had many. We would live forever together. I would have found a way to make you immortal. I would have, I would have done anything."

I hear the doorbell ring. I don't move. It rings again. Over the next ten minutes the bell continues to ring. I gently move a few locks of Rosemarie's hair off of her shoulder. I hear the door to the house open, so the person must have a key. I hear someone coming upstairs, there is a knock at the door and it opens. I don't look away from Rosemarie.

"Shit..." Ivan. "Oh God... Dimitri... I'm so sorry." I don't move. "Dimitri... Dimitri...? Dimitri, can you hear me? Look towards me." I don't. "Dimitri, you can't do this. You can't, you can't just stop living." I sit up in the bed and pull Rosemarie into my arms. Her head rests on my bicep. "Dimitri, look at me, now!" I place my hand onto Rose's neck and gently pull her closer to me. I rest my forehead on her shoulder. I gently kiss her neck. I remember every little thing the two of us have done together. We've loved each other for years. "God damn it Dimitri, look at me!"

When I don't he walks over to us. He grips Rosemarie's arm and pulls her from me. I glare up at him when he throws her down to the bed. "Get up."

"How could you just throw her like that?" I ask him. He glares down at me.

"Get your ass up, now!"

"No! I will not leave her! Not again." Ivan grabs me by my shoulders and takes me to the bathroom. He pushes me to the tub and I catch myself before I fall to the ground. I hear Ivan start the water and then lift me up. I try to fight him, but I'm too weak. He puts me into the tub and the water hits me, it's hot. I try to get out but he won't let me.

"No. You're taking a bath. How long ago did she die?"

"A week." I answer. "I... I wasn't there... I was out getting things when she took her last breath... she died and I wasn't there for it. I couldn't tell her I loved her. My fiancée' is dead."

"Dimitri, I know you loved her, still love her, but you can't let this take over your life."

"I can't? What would you do if it were Florence? Huh Ivan? What would you do?"

Ivan watches me for a long moment. "I would be very upset, I would be a wreck for weeks, but I wouldn't let it take over my life."

"Weeks, you said week, it has been one for me!"

"You are sleeping in the bed with her! You can't do that! I love Rose, I do, but you can't go around wishing life was over. It will never be over. We need to give her a proper funeral. You can't just keep her body in your bedroom. She will begin to rot and decompose... she needs to be take out of the house."

"No, no she isn't going anywhere. I won't let anyone take her." Ivan shuts off the water and kneels down next to me.

"Dimitri, you are my best friend... and I know Rose was the love of your life, but you can't just wallow in your own pity... I'll leave you be for a little while, allow you more time with her, but I will be back. I will." Ivan stands up and then walks to the door. "I am so sorry for your loss."

**Later that night**

"That was a good book." I say as I set down the novel I just finished reading. I know what I'm doing isn't healthy, but I can't help it. I can't get over the fact that she's dead. I get out of the bed to take off my robe, but stop when the phone rings. For the first time since she died I do answer it.

"Hello?" I ask voice weak. I grunt and then restart. "Hello?" I say more powerfully.

"Hello Dimitri." My blood runs cold at his voice; he speaks in the oldest language. One I learned when I first began to work for him.

"You..."

"Yes, it's me; I can't believe it's been twenty years since you last worked for me. Twenty years since you killed, well that isn't quiet true, but nonetheless, I miss you slightly."

"Why are you calling me?" I ask the man, the Devil.

"Dimitri, I am sorry for what happened to your fiancée'. Rosemarie was her name, wasn't it?"

"Yes," I answer. "It was her name."

"Huh... it suits her. Now, I have a proposition for you."

"Proposition...? I'm not interested."

"You will be. Dimitri, if you come back to work with me, I will grant Rosemarie back her life."

"Her life? If I work with you again, you'll bring her back to life?"

"Yes, I will. I promise you Dimitri, I keep my promises. You know I do. Dimitri, she is the love of your life, do you want her to be alive again? Would you like her to live again?"

"Yes, more then anything."

"Alright, then take your old job back. Become my right-hand man again and your fiancée' will live again."

"I... alright, I'll take my old job back... please just bring her back." I can literally hear him smiling.

"Great, I can't wait to work with you again, Dimitri. I can't wait."


	25. Chapter 25

**The Year 1918**

**May 5th**

"Did you do it?" I ask the Devil. "Did you bring her back?"

"Yes, I did, I kept my promise." He walks down to me from his throne. "I can't express how happy I am to see you." He places his hands onto my shoulders. "I truly can't."

"Twenty years and you couldn't find someone to replace me?"

"I could, but no one was better then you."

"Can I see her? Can I see Rosemarie?" The Devil watches me for a long time. "Please, let me see her, I love her."

"I've loved before, but I didn't make it rule my entire life."

"Please, let me see her. Let me love her, marry her." He doesn't speak. "Please."

"I can't let you Dimitri."

"What? Why not?" I ask him.

"She will be a distraction to you. You won't work as well; you will care more about her then your work."

"Please."

"No, I'm sorry, but no." He removes his hands from my shoulders and walks back up to the throne. "Your first case is here, you know what room."

I watch him as he sits down at his throne. I inhale deeply and then turn around, I begin to walk to the throne rooms' door and it opens as I walk. A man is being dragged in by two workers who I used to know when I previously worked here. I hate being back here. I am no longer that soulless man; I have emotions, human emotions. I hate being back, but at least my Roza is alive. I want proof that she is alive, I will ask for it, but later in the day. I walk to the room and enter. Inside is a man around forty. I pick up a sheet that says what he's done. Six counts of rape to three different woman over a four year period, sexual abuse to his step-daughter, physical and mental abuse to his wife, divorced, and step-wife. I set down the paper and look up at the terrified man. I hate being back, but I won't hate torturing people who deserve it. I look towards Lana, a woman I've known for a very, very long time now and smile.

"Lana, please bring in The Brazen Bull." I tell her with a smile. Lana smiles, pushes back her fiery red hair and nods before going to get the medieval torture device.

**May 6th**

The man lets out a horrible scream as his fingers are crushed. Lana is smiling as she crushes the man's fingers and thumbs in the Thumbscrew, the device reminds me of a nutcracker. He screams again and I smile. He deserves this; he cut off his wife's and children's fingers and thumbs, just because he felt like it. Lana looks up at me and smiles. I smile back at her, but it isn't like the smile I once had towards her.

**May 7th**

_Pop._ Go the woman's joints as she is pulled apart by the Rack. She screams. I don't remember what this woman did; this is the third form of torture that Lana and I have done to her. Lana walks over to me and leans against the wall. I look away from the woman as she screams and down at Lana.

"Yes?"

"I missed you. I missed you so much while you were gone." Lana places her hands onto my chest and moves them up to my shoulders. I grab her hands and set them down at her sides.

"Don't Lana, I am no longer interested in you, I am sorry, but I cannot." Lana takes in a deep breath and then nods.

"I understand," I look into her eyes and see that she does not understand and does not except that I am over her. She won't give up yet. I know she won't.

**May 8th**

"Wipe that damn grin off your face." I say as I set a match. The man's smile fades as he realizes what I am about to do. Burn him at the stake. He set his house on fire when his family was in it. His wife, kids, mother... he deserves to burn. I drop the match onto the wood and it beings burns instantly.

**May 9th**

"Please, no, let me go! Don't do this to me!" I shake my head and walk over to the man as he is put into the device.

"If you didn't want punishment you shouldn't have stabbed that girl." He is thrown into the Iron Maiden and the men slam the doors with spikes on the inner surface. I place my hands onto my hips as his scream rips through the room. Blood spills from the bottom of the device.

**May 10th**

The naked woman tries not to scream as she is compressed in The Scavenger's Daughter. Her body is kept tightly together; soon blood will flow from her nose and ears. As the woman is worked on Lana walks over to me and grabs me. I inhale and look down at her.

"Come on, Dimitri, I don't see why you won't fuck me already." She begins to palm me through my pants and I step away from her.

"No Lana, I can't."

"Oh come on! What's so bad? So you were engaged, you aren't anymore!"

"Yes, I am. The two of us are still engaged, I haven't been able to see her yet, but I will, and I will marry her." I look up as blood runs down the woman's nose and ears. She'll be dead soon.

**May 11th**

"Hey handsome," the woman says. "Are you going to play with me?"

This woman is crazy, she is, she's tried to be helped, but nothing seemed to work. One day in the middle of the night she killed her doctors. All five. The woman opens up her legs as I walk closer to her.

"Come on, play with me." I don't answer. I look towards Lana as she walks into the room with The Breast Ripper. Lana hands the man who stands on the other side of the girl one part of the device. I wrap my arms over my chest.

"Close your legs." She makes a pout-face, one that looks like Rose's when she was younger and didn't get what she wanted. For a moment I think about her, but then stop when I realize that I should get back to work. I nod towards Lana and the man and then begin to rip the woman's breasts. I wonder how Rosemarie is doing. What she's doing. Damn I miss her.

**May 12th**

I walk into the room, ready to begin on the next man for the day. I look up and stop when I see who it is. Abe. Rosemarie's dad. He looks up at me and his mouth falls open.

"D-Dimitri."

"Abe..." Lana walks into the room, basically naked. She walks over to me and places her hands onto her hips.

"Fuck me, now, fuck me." I glare down at her.

"For the last time, no." I push her out of the way and look back at Abe.

"What are you doing here?" He asks me "What am I doing here?" I walk over to his sheet of paper and read it. He's here because he left Rosemarie behind the bar. Why is he here so late? I look back at Abe.

"Did you die?" I ask him.

"What, no! I was just walking in my hallway!" I look up at Lana and she leaves the room, getting the paper I need. When she comes back in she hands me the paper I want. He isn't dead, he was brought here. I hand her back the paper and then tell her to go get dressed. "Dimitri... what are you doing here? Where are we?"

I am straight forward with him; he is my future father-in-law after all. "We're in Hell. Abe, I am forty-three and I am immortal. When I was younger I started to work for the Devil and when I refused to kill anymore he banished me to the human world. Your world. I met Rosemarie and raised her as my own daughter. I didn't plan to fall in love with her, but I did. She knows about my immortality. When she died the Devil called me, he told me that if I took my job back he would bring her back to life."

"You're crazy..."

"Am I? Where do you think you are?"

"I... I don't know."

"Abe, I won't be able to hurt you, you are the love of my life's father. I can't hurt you. Now, I am going to get you out of here, now before Lana gets back."

"Dimitri, I went to your house only two days ago, no one was there. I haven't seen Rosemarie in weeks now. She died?"

"You haven't seen her?"

"No, I haven't." The Devil... I must speak with him, but first I must get Abe away from here. I grab his arm and pull him up from the ground.

"Come on, don't ask questions, just follow me." The two of us begin to walk out of the room and begin to run as someone sees us. As we run I end up killing at least ten other immortals, demons. Eventually we get to the right room which is guarded by some of the best demons Hell has. They see us and I run to them. It takes at least ten minutes for me to take them and get Abe into the room. I walk over to the device we keep well guarded, well, well guarded until now, and set in the coordinates I need. I put them in and tell Abe to get into the box; it looks similar to a telephone box in London or something. He doesn't fight me and gets in. "I will see you soon, Abe, and I promise I will have your daughter." He nods and I press a button which sends Abe back to the human world, to his home. I flip around and leave the room. People now will be aware that I sent someone back home and killed. I don't care. I'll kill whoever I need. I run faster than I have ever run to the room I need. The room that tells us what each room is being used for. On the way I killed at least a dozen or more people. I get to the room and read each and every paper which covers a different room.

I find the two rooms I am looking for. Room 198-Mortica's bedroom. Mortica is the Devils favorite love toy. His favorite little whore. I memorize the room number and then pull of the paper that has the other room number I need. 3-Rosemarie's room. I shove the paper into my pockets and then race to room 198. I kill two and then run into the room. I see Mortica lying in bed, dressed in racy lingerie. Her panties are on the floor and she has two fingers plunged into herself. She stops when she notices me. Mortica smiles and walks over to me. She gets off the bed and walks over to me.

"Dimitri, I heard you were back." She cups me and I push her back onto the bed.

"Put your damn panties on."

"Or what?" She asks as she spreads her legs and lies back on the bed. "You'll fuck me?" She moves her hips in a seductive manor.

"Put them on!" She jumps up from the bed and puts them on.

"What the hell do you want, Belikov?" I grab her arm and she yells at me as I make her follow me. We go to room 3. Rose's room. I didn't see anyone, so I didn't have to kill anyone. I grip Mortica's arm and kick open the door to Rosemarie's room. I glare at the man who is standing over the bed, staring down at Rosemarie as he pushes up her dressing gown. She screams and tries to kick him. I throw Mortica into the room and he stops as she hits the ground. I glare at the man harder and run to the two of them. I throw him up against the wall and he grunts.

"Dimitri!" She looks just like she did before she caught the flu.

"Rosemarie... I have to get you out of here."

"W-what happened?" She asks me.

"I can't explain now, did anyone touch you, rape you?"

"No... This was the first time someone tried." I pull her up from the bed and hold her close to me for a moment. "What happened?"

"I'll explain later, come on, let's get you out of here." I grab Mortica's hand and pull her up from the ground. The three of us go to the throne room. I killed three on the way. When we get there I throw open the doors and we walk inside. The Devil looks around as we walk into the room and he sees the three of us. His attention goes to Mortica.

"Mortica..."

"You kept her here! You bastard!"

"W... what are you planning on doing, Dimitri?"

"I want you to let Rosemarie and I go, let us go back to our homes, and live our lives together. Make her immortal!"

"Or what?" He asks.

"Or else I'll kill Mortica." I let go of Rosemarie's hand and pull Mortica to me. I take out my knife and keep it to her neck. "If you don't let us go back to our normal lives, I will kill her. I'll kill your little whore." Mortica makes an upset sound and I press the knife closer to her neck. The Devil looks at her and then at me. He knows I'm serious. "I love Rosemarie, she is my fiancée', we were to be married before she caught the flu and died. I agreed to work with you for her life, but I can't work like this anymore. I want my love back, my life back. I will have it back."

The Devil stands there for a long time, thinking. I look towards Rosemarie and see her watching me. I can't tell what she's thinking. "I love you," she mouths.

"I love you, too." I mouth back.

"Fine, go... I shall leave you alone, just don't hurt Mortica." I look back at him and then nod. I release her and then pull Rosemarie into my arms.

"If you ever do anything to us, I will kill her. Now, make Rosemarie immortal." He nods and then whispers three words. Rosemarie takes in a deep breath and then looks up at me.

"A... am I immortal?"

"Yes, you are." I look at the Devil. "Send us back." He nods as Mortica runs into his arms. She wraps his arms around her, if only he knew that she was trying to get me to sleep with her. The Devil whispers and before I knew it Rosemarie and I are back in our house, alive.

**I knew this chapter went really fast, but I didn't know how else to write it. So… yeah, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. **


	26. Chapter 26

**The Year 1918**

**May 12th**

"I love you! I love you! I love you, I love you!" I tell Rosemarie as I kiss her face. Her arms are wrapped around me, gripping the back of my shirt. "God I love you! I can't believe you're alive, I can't believe I can love you again, be with you again. I missed you so much!"

"How long was I dead?"

"A week or so... damn it, I missed you!" I kiss her hard and then bend back. "Rosemarie, that week I didn't have you was the worst week of my life. Not having you made me want to die, I wanted to die. Rosemarie, please, marry me. Marry me, soon, please." Rosemarie watches me. "I want things to go back to the way they were before this happened. Before you got sick. Please, please. I know things won't be exactly alike, but I want them to be similar. You're father knows, that is what will be the hardest thing to get used to, but it will be alright... it will be, I know it will be."

Rosemarie places her hands onto my chest. "I want things to be like they were, but I can't live in this house, not anymore. It will always be the house I grew up in and I will always cherish it, but it was also the house I died in. I can't sleep in this bedroom." She says as she looks around the bedroom. "I can't, we'll need to move."

"Alright, ok, we'll move. Marry me? Please, I know we are already engaged, but I need you to say it again. Say yes again."

"Yes, I'll marry you. I'll marry you a million times over again." Rosemarie holds me tighter and I do the same. "I'll marry you..."

**May 15th**

"I missed you so much!" Christian says as he and Rose hug. "I can't believe that you're better. I can't believe you died and are now back! Damn it!" Rosemarie hugs him back and after a few minutes they break apart.

"I missed you, too, Christian." The two of them hug for a second time and then Lissa comes in with Rosie. Lissa gives Rosemarie Rosie and she holds her for a long time, telling her that she's so happy to see her again. While Rosemarie is holding Rosie her parents walk into the living room.

"Rosemarie!" Janine yells. Lissa takes Rosie back and Rosemarie hugs her parents. Abe watches me after he lets Rosemarie go and then walks over to me.

"I told Janine. But... is what you told me true or was I just imagining it? Neither of us know if it is or not."

"Look at Rosemarie, she's all better, that never would have happened if I wasn't who I was. Abe, I need you to understand that I would never hurt Rosemarie, I went through hell, literally, to get her back. She was dead for a week and I didn't leave the bedroom, I couldn't because I couldn't leave her. I will never stop loving her, and I will be with her for the rest of our lives. And we are getting married in a little more than a week."

"What? You two are getting married?" Janine asks. "That's amazing! I can't believe! I am so happy for the two of you..." She walks over to me and hugs me. I hug her back. "I can't wait for you to be my son-in-law."

**May 31st**

"I'm nervous ma'am."I tell my mother as I fix my tie. She walks up behind me, dressed in a beautiful purple dress. She places her hands onto my shoulders and takes in a deep breath.

"I know son... I know... but just think in less than five minutes you and Rosemarie will be married... married to Rosemarie." I smile and think about her. I wonder about what dress she's in. How her hair is, how her make-up is. I open my eyes and look back at my mother.

"Thank you mom, I love you."

"I love you too, son. I'm so proud of you." She kisses my cheek and then we leave the dressing room. Ivan and Christian meet us outside and we walk to the wedding. We walk down the long aisle and people watch us. My mother sits down in the front of the aisle and Ivan, Christian, and I stand in front. I look at the Priest who smiles at us.

"Are you excited?" He asks me. I nod.

"Yes, I am so excited." I answer. Suddenly music begins and I look down the aisle as butterflies fill my stomach. The music becomes louder and I see the doors to the church open. Lissa walks down the aisle, Meredith, one of her friends from school follows, then another friend. The music changes and I grin as I see her. Rosemarie and her father begin to walk down the aisle. God, she's beautiful. I feel tears fill my eyes. Her dress is amazing, her hair is up, and her make-up is dramatic. She's beautiful.

**(If you want to see Rosemarie's wedding dress collage I made, go to my Facebook Page, it is called Rosemarie Alanna Ann Belikova-FanFiction. When you get there, click on photos, and go to the "My Beautiful Release" album)**

Rosemarie smiles at me and it seems like a lifetime before she gets to me. The ceremony seems to go on for too long. Then it comes to me saying my wedding vows.

"Rosemarie, from the first time we met, I knew you were someone special. The time we've spent together, has been the best time of my life, and I'm excited to see what the future hold for us. You are the woman I want to have a family with, grow with, and spend the rest of my life loving. I vow to take care of you, in good times and bad, and always love you. "Rosemarie smiles and squeezes my hands. I see a tear escape her eyes and I wipe it away. She grins and then says her vows to me.

"Dimitri, you have taken care of me my entire life, you treated me so well, you made me feel loved. You made me feel like I was the only girl in the world. You have proved a million times over again that you would do anything for me, because you love me. I love you and I will always love you." She begins to cry harder, but tries to get out all of her vows. "You took me in when I needed someone the most... we have had our ups and downs, our good and bad times, but nothing has broken us apart. I will forever love you, and I will always need you. God I love you." I smile and want to pull her to me, kiss her, love her. The Priest continues on with the ceremony and it is time for the rings. Lissa gives Rosemarie my ring and Ivan gives me Rosemarie's.

"With this ring, I thee wed." I tell Rosemarie as I slip the ring onto her finger. She smiles and takes my left hand.

"With this ring, I thee wed." She says as she slips the gold band onto my finger. "Dimitri, you're crying."

"No I'm not." I whisper. She smiles and nods.

"Yes, you are." She releases my hand and then wipes them away.

"Oh," she smiles and then our Priest continues the ceremony.

"Do you Dimitri, take this woman whose hand you now hold, to be your true and wedded wife; and do you solemnly promise before God and these witnesses to love, cherish, honor and protect her: to forsake all others for her sake; to cleave unto her, and her only, until death shall part you?"

"Yes, I do."

"Do you Rosemarie take this man who now holds your hand, to be your true and wedded husband; and do you solemnly promise before God and these witnesses to love, cherish, honor and protect him: to forsake all others for his sake; to cleave unto him and him only, and him forever until death shall part you?"

"I do." She tells me. He nods and smiles.

"Dimitri, you may kiss your bride." I grin and grip Rosemarie's hands. She steps forward and I lean down. I gently press my lips to hers, making her my wife.


	27. Chapter 27

**The Year 1918**

**May 31st**

I smile as I pull Rosemarie's hair out of her bun. It falls to her back. She watches me, lips slightly parted. I sit closer to Rosemarie and then place my hands at her back. My fingers begin to undo her dresses buttons. She licks her lips. The two of us are quiet as I finish undoing them. Rosemarie stands up from the bed and pulls the dress off of her body. Once it falls past her hips the dress falls to the ground. She steps out of it and stares at me. She is now in her undergarments only. I step closer to her and she comes towards me, moving away from the dress. I place my hands onto her hips and pull her body to mine. Rosemarie inhales slightly before I kiss her. After a few minutes of kissing I begin to remove her undergarments. Her top is now off and I am working on her bottoms. Rosemarie's breasts are pressed against my bare chest. Rosemarie places her hands onto my shoulders as I push down her bottoms. She's naked now; it is now my turn to undress. Rosemarie's eyes connect with mine as I remove my pants. I shove them down to the ground and stare back at her; she looks up at the ceiling as I remove my bottoms.

"I know you're nervous." I tell her as I place my hands onto her hips. She looks down at me. "It's completely understandable." She looks up at me and nods.

"Dimitri... I'm ready." She tells me. "I'm ready..."

I nod and wrap my arms around her. I step closer to her and she inhales as our bodies are pressed up against each others. I lift Rosemarie up and take her to the bed. I lay her down and lay besides her. "Are you ready?" I ask her as I place my hand near her private area. She nods. Rosemarie rolls onto her back first and I move onto her body.

"Yes, I'm ready." I nod and separate Rosemarie's bottom lips. She shivers as I gently press one of my fingers at her openings and move my thumb to her clit. I slowly move my thumb as I push my finger into her. I stop when I get to her hymen. Rosemarie grabs my shoulders and I pull out my finger. I bend downwards and kiss Rosemarie. She loosens her hands up as I begin to rub her clit harder. As I continue she grips my shoulders again. I move my lips down to her neck, then to her breasts. I move my lips over her nipple and gently begin to suck. I do this for a short while before biting her nipple gently. Before I know it Rosemarie's body begins to shake, not like when she was sick, this is so different. This shaking comes from the pleasure of her first orgasm. As she continues I push one of my fingers into her and she lets out a small scream. If she weren't having an orgasm her pain would have been worse. Rosemarie's pleasure fades and she looks down at me. "Wow."

I nod. "Yes, I know." Slowly I begin to move my finger in and out of Rosemarie's passage. After a few long strokes I add a second finger, then a third. I continue to do this, and rub her clit until she orgasms again. During this I became hard. Rosemarie looks down at me.

"Dimitri, can I touch it?" She asks me.

"Of course," I say. She smiles and I move off of her body. Rosemarie sits up in the bed and looks down at me. She inhales as she sees me naked for the first time. She makes a small noise and then looks up at me.

"How do I do it?" She asks. I place my hand onto hers for a moment and then squeeze it gently before taking her hand and moving it to my penis. I gently wrap her hand around my length and she watches.

"This is easy, Roza, just move your hand, up and down, that's all I can tell you. The rest is up to you, this is like an improvisation sort of thing. Do what you think is right." I tell her. Rosemarie nods and I remove my hand from hers. She takes in a breath and then begins to move her hand. I shiver slightly as she begins. My hands grip the sheets on the bed as she begins to move her hand up and down on my length. After a few moments of that she tightens her hand around me. I groan and look up at her.

"How am I doing?" She asks me. I smile and move my hand onto the back of her neck. I pull Rosemarie down to me and kiss her. She tightens her hand around me and I thrust my hips upwards.

"Great, you're doing great." She smiles and we continue to kiss as she moves her hand around me. My shoulders grip Rosemarie's shoulders and pull her body down to mine as I orgasm. Her hands move up to my shoulders as I shake in pleasure. Rosemarie gently kisses me as I finish. My hands loosen and my breathing begins to become regular once more. Rosemarie begins to kiss me again and I wrap my arms around her waist. She moves onto my body and I groan as my body presses against hers. I place my hands onto the back of her thighs and pull her closer to me. Almost instantly I become hard again, I'm ready to be with her. I grip Rosemarie's hips and roll us over.

"Condom or not?" I ask her. Rosemarie looks up at me. "Should we use a condom or not? Do you want to use a condom or not?"

Rosemarie stares up at me and then licks her lips. "I don't know... uh... I guess that depends on if we want kids sooner or later. When do you want them?"

"Soon, but it isn't all up to me, it's up to you." She licks her lips.

"I... I want to use one, I want to use one until we know what we want." I nod and remove a condom from the drawer next to the bed. In less than twenty seconds, the condom is out and on me; I am on top of Rosemarie, my hands holding her hips. I am positioned at her entrance. I look up at Rosemarie and kiss her, gently.

"I love you..." Before she can reply it I thrust into her and she gasps, her nails dig into my back as I fill her. I'm nervous that I'm too big for her, that I'm hurting her too much.

"I love you, too..." She tells me. I open my eyes and look into hers. She blinks once and then closes her eyes. I do the same and slowly begin to move my hips, pushing in and pulling out. Within only a few minutes I'm thrusting faster. I becomes faster and faster. Rosemarie begins to loosen up, but tighten as well. Her nails leave my skin and she begins to match my thrusts. I grin as I begin to hear her moaning, she's enjoying this. I wrap my arms around her waist and then groan in immense pleasure as she tightens around me. I let out a low yell as I orgasm. Rosemarie screams as she does the same. As we ride out together I continue to thrust, but they become slower and slower. I roll off of Rosemarie and then pull her into my arms. "Oh God Dimitri... that was spectacular."

I smile and rub her hair down flat on her back. "I'm glad you think so... well, it is now official, you are now my wife."


	28. Chapter 28

**The Year 1918**

**June 2nd**

"Rose, what do you think?" I ask her as we stare at the world outside of our room in Greece. We came here for our honeymoon; we're staying in a castle. The day after our honeymoon we stayed in bed, Rosemarie was too sore to go anywhere and we enjoyed staying in bed together, talking, we didn't have sex, but we did fool around a little bit.

"It's beautiful," Rosemarie says as she looks back at me. "Absolutely beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you are." She smiles and kisses my lips gently. I wrap my arms around her waist. "Do you think you're ready? For our second time?"

She smiles and nods. I hold her tighter and lift her into my arms. Rosemarie wraps her arms around my waist as I carry her to the bedroom. We are staying in the tallest tower in the castle. The room is lit with candles; drapery is on the walls, held back at the window. I set Rosemarie down on the round bed and then walk over to the window. I pull the strings on the curtains and they both fall together, covering up the gaping window. I look back at her and see her smiling at me. I smile back at her and walk over to the bed. I crawl onto the bed and straddle her body.

"I can't wait to be with you again, Mrs. Belikova."

**June 3rd**

"Wow..." I say as I look at Rosemarie as she walks out of the bathroom. She's dressed in a dressing gown, it falls to her knees, and the dressing gown does not have a top front. Her breasts are completely exposed. I sit up in the bed and stare at her as she walks over to me.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it." She kneels down on the edge of the bed and stares back at me. I crawl over to her and kiss her gently. I kiss her gently for a few minutes and then trail them down the front of her neck and to the middle of her breasts. I suck in between the two of them and Rosemarie begins to breathe deeper. I move my lips to her nipple and suck gingerly at first, it becomes faster and harder and she places her hands onto my shoulders. I switch nipples, and suck at the same pace. Before I can move my lips any farther there is a knock at the door. I pull apart from Rosemarie and then look towards the door.

"Go get dressed." I tell her. "No, just put your robe on."

I walk over to the door and then take in a deep breath. I place my hand onto the knob and think about something that does not bring me pleasure, then open it.

"Lana," the woman smiles at me and steps into the room.

"What are you doing here?" I ask her.

"I'm here to take you," she grabs me, tightly, and then I push it away from me.

"No, I'm on my honeymoon."

"Do you did marry the whore."

"She isn't a whore." I push her out of the room and then close the door behind me. "My wife is not a whore. Lana, stay the hell away from me. I swear, if you ruin this for me, I will kill you. I am not afraid of you; I have never been and will never be afraid of you. Now, leave." I walk back into the bedroom and then close the door. Rosemarie is standing in her robe, leaning up against the bathrooms door.

"Who was that?"

"No one," I walk over to her and push her robe off of her body. "Well, there was someone, but it was not important." I pull Rosemarie's body to mine and then slip my hand up her skirt. My fingers part her lips and I push a finger into her. Rose takes in a deep breath and then moves her hands onto my biceps.

"Dimitri, take me to bed." I nod and scoop her into my arms.

"Gladly."

**June 6th **

Rosemarie and I have spent all of these past days in bed, not leaving the castle. We made love a million times over again it seems.

"Are you ready to go out?" I ask Rosemarie as I walk out of the bathroom, fixing my tie.

"Yes, I am." She says as she fixes the hat on her head. "What are we going to do today?"

"Anything you want." I tell her. The two of us take hands and then leave the castle. All day the two of us spent it out, taking in the sights, trying new things. By the time we got home we were both exhausted, but weren't against having sex once again.

**August 1st**

"I'm tired."

"I know you are, love, I know you are." I tell Rosemarie as we drive to our new house. Rosemarie has never seen it, but it's amazing. I bought it just for us, and our future children. Rosemarie leans into me as we drive. She sighs and I kiss her forehead.

"I want to sleep."

"I know... when we get home... when we get home."

"Mm... I'm excited to see the house."

"I'm excited for you to see the house, its amazing Rosemarie. There are so many rooms, so many floors."

"Do we need a house that large?" She asks me.

"Yes, we do. We really do." I place my hand onto her thigh and gently squeeze it. During our honeymoon Rosemarie and I talked about our future together. Yes, we do have millions of years to be together, but we do not have millions of years to spend with our parents, so we decided to have children. Soon. First Rosemarie wants to become accustomed to the house before trying, and I am just fine with that. Besides, we have to paint it the way we want it, get new furniture. I'm excited. We have lived together before, for eighteen years, but this is a house we are now going to share as man and wife, the house we are going to raise our children in. We pull up in front of the house and exit the car. She takes in a deep breath.

"It's huge. It's so much bigger then our other house and that house was huge!" She flips around towards me and smiles. "I love it!" I walk over to her and she runs to me. She throws her arms around me I spin her multiple times. When I set her down we kiss.

"I can't wait to make this house truly our own, and I can't wait to then try for children."

"Neither can I." I kiss her forehead. "It will be fun." She smiles and kisses me deeply. I set her down and she puts up her hand, and then sticks out her pinky.

"Pinky-promise me that we will try for children after the house is prefect and only then. I don't want to feel rushed when trying to create our perfect home." I wrap my own pinky around hers and then raise it to my lips. I kiss the top of her hand gently and then set them back down.

"Are you ready to go in?"

"Yes," I grin and then scoop her into my arms, bridal-style. I carry Rosemarie up the stairs and then through our houses threshold.

**August 15th**

I remember when we decided that. When I pinky-promised her that we wouldn't try for children until the house was perfect. That didn't quite work out, as it turns out Rosemarie had gotten pregnant during our honeymoon, within the first week.


	29. Chapter 29

**The Year 1918**

**August 15th**

I watch Rosemarie as she runs her hands over her slightly bumped stomach. I step closer to her and place my hands over hers.

"You're beautiful."

"Maybe now, but in a few months my stomach will be like a huge watermelon."

"Yes, but that means that our little baby is growing, becoming larger." I kneel down in front of her and press my lips to her stomach. "I can't wait to meet you little one." I look up at Rosemarie and smile. "We're having our first child. Aren't you excited?"

"Of course I am excited, but I also feel very stressed."

"Why?"

"I am around three months pregnant, which means we have only six months give or take to make our house our own, to make it perfect so that we won't have to worry about it when we have the baby."

"Rosemarie, don't stress, it is not good for the child, but you also should not be stressed because our house will be done by the time we have our child. Trust me, it will be done."

Rosemarie watches the mirror for a moment longer and then looks down at me. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am."

"But there are four floors to the house, plus a basement, there are fourteen rooms that could be anything, plus a master bedroom, two den rooms, the kitchen is the size of one of the two living rooms. We have three office areas, family room, our basement could be anything. The basement could hold our old house. A library. We have a library in our house. Hell, this isn't a house; it is a mansion, Dimitri. No matter what we call it, it is a mansion." I smile and nod as I rise from my area on the ground.

"Yes, we live in a mansion. It is no big deal. I know that over the next ten years we will have multiple children. Who knows when we will stop, we live forever, we can have dozens of children."

"Dozens... I don't know if my body could take that."

"Rosemarie, you are immortal, you will always be able to go into labor with ease."

"You don't know that, every pregnancy is different, Dimitri. I don't know if I want that many children." I look up at her and then nod.

"I... I understand." I look towards our bed and then walk to it. I remove my robe, hang it up, and then get under the covers. Rosemarie stands where she is and then does the same as I did. I stay on my side as she gets comfortable.

"Dimitri, you must understand that I'm young, I don't know all that I want. Who knows, when I am older, I could want more than just a few children. I love children, and I will love our children, but I am not prepared to have more than one at this point. Eventually two and then three... but I'm not ready for more than that yet."

I don't reply. I feel her hand on my side and I don't move. She keeps it there for a moment, and when I don't do anything she removes it.

"You can't do this; you can't get pissed because I don't want more than a few children at this point in my life." I stop the urge to look over my shoulder. I hear her huff and then get out of the bed. When I hear her pulling on her robe I sit up in bed.

"What are you doing?" I ask her.

"I don't want to be here when you're like this. You tell me not to act like that when I get upset, and I try to stop, but you can't then do it. I'm going to Christian's and Lissa's." She walks to the bedrooms door and I get out of bed.

"No, you are not going this late at night. It is not safe." She doesn't pay me any attention and then leaves the bedroom. I follow her to the hallway. "Rosemarie come back here."

"No, not until you stop acting like you did."

"Rosemarie, I am talking to you aren't I?" I ask her. She stops walking and looks towards me.

"You can't be mad, you can't. I'm eighteen, you are forty-three! You have known what you've wanted for years; you know you want a big family. You know what you want. I don't. I know I want a family with you, but I don't know how many children I want. I haven't thought about it. When I think about us and children I think about the two of us happy with a baby, me with a pregnant stomach. Two. That's what I imagine. I know that in the future I will most likely want more, but I don't as of now... I'm sorry if that isn't what you want, but you should have put my feelings about children into consideration before you married me."

"Alright, I'm sorry for how I acted." I walk closer to her and take her hands. "I'm sorry for how I acted and I will not push for children, but I will not stop wanting more children. I have always wanted a big family and that will never change... but we'll stop when you want to stop."

"Thank you," I pull her into my arms and then place my hand onto her stomach.

"Rosemarie, I think you will think differently about this when you first hold our child in your arms."

Rosemarie yawns, but doesn't tell me her thoughts about what I told her. "Are you ready for bed?" I ask. She nods and then the two of us go to bed together. I spoon into her as we get comfortable.

"I really want the house to be finished by the time the baby is here."

"It will be Rosemarie... it will be."


	30. Chapter 30

**The Year 1918**

**September 1st**

Rosemarie is now four months pregnant and is not feeling that great. She's having really bad morning sickness, her back is killing her, and so are her ankles and feet. She is also very tired and is currently in bed. I'm lying besides her, hand on her hip.

"I hate this." I look up at her face.

"What?" I ask her.

"I hate being pregnant. It's horrible, I feel horrible."

"You don't hate being pregnant, you just don't like being pregnant right now. I know that some parts of being pregnant are horrible, but just think about the good ones. The little kicks you feel that remind you that there is a little child growing inside of you, a life that we created together. Imagine when we have the baby; imagine holding him or her in your arms, the baby smiling up at you, knowing you're his or her mother..."

She doesn't reply. Rose closes her eyes and rolls onto her back. My hand is now resting on the bed. "Roza... do you even want the child?" She turns her head towards me.

"I do... I do... I want this baby it's just... I'm only eighteen... I feel like I have the rest of eternity for this, I do have the rest of eternity for this... I wanted to be more prepared... I'm scared."

"Scared about what?"

"Scared about labor, scared about how much it will hurt, scared that I won't be a good mother... that I will screw the baby up..."

"Roza, you'll be an amazing mother."

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do. I've seen you around Rosie; you are so amazing to her. You treat her so well. She loves you. She couldn't have a better aunt." I watch Rosemarie as she stares up at the ceiling and then sit up the moment she begins to cry.

"I'm sorry!" I take her hands in mine and gently squeeze them. "I don't know why I'm crying!"

"No, sweetheart, you don't need to apologize, I understand. I do."

"Dimitri I want this baby, it's our baby... I'm just so nervous, and I don't understand what's happening to me, and I don't know how our baby is going to be, I'm scared that I won't be able to raise him or her right, I hate not knowing what's going on."

"I know, I know, Roza... we will get through this, we will. This is only our first child, after this one things will be all better. When we have our next we'll be more prepared."

"You sound like the moment this one's out we'll have the next one... Dimitri, no. I want more than one child, I do, but I'm not going to be the type of woman who is only used for breeding!"

"You are Roza, you're my beautiful wife, I don't think of you like that. I don't."

"Well I feel like that. I know you want children, I know do, you have had years to think about what you want, about how many children you want... I haven't. You know how to raise a child, you raised me, and I have not raised a child... I am confused about what type of mother I will want to be, confused about how many children I want, I don't know anything, and to top it all off every single one of my emotions are off. I hate feeling like this. I hate feeling like I don't have control. Right now I don't need an over-bearing husband as well."

I watch her as she moves off the bed and walks to bathroom. She walks inside the room and then closes the door. I hear water start and know she is about to take a bath. I get out of bed and walk down sets of stairs to the phone. I call Ivan.

"Hello?" Ivan asks, voice panicked.

"Hello, its Dimitri,"

"Dimitri, I can't talk right now, I need to call the doctor and ask him to come to the house." He says, rushed.

"Why?"

"Florence is going into labor."

"What? Would you like Rosemarie and I to come over?"

"Yes, please God, yes!"

"Alright, the two of us will be there soon." I hang up the phone and run upstairs to the master bedroom. I run into the bathroom and see Rose about to get into the tub. "Rose stop! Florence is going into labor; Ivan wants us to go over there." She looks towards me and then begins to get dressed again. Once she is finished we head to the car and towards Ivan and Florence's home.

**A few hours later**

I look back at Rose as Florence lets out a pained scream. "Get it out! Get it out now!" She shouldn't have come over here; she seems to be even more uneasy about having the baby now. Her arms are wrapped over her chest. She screams again and then walks out of the hallway and to the living room. I don't go after her and walk to into the bedroom. Florence is gripping the sheets as Ivan presses a wet towel to her forehead. The doctor is kneeling down in front of her body, checking for dilatation. She screams, loudly as she has another contraction.

"It's time Florence, it's time. When I say go, push." I walk over to the other side of her and take her hand. She grips it tightly. "Ready... one... two... three... go!"

She lets out a horrible scream as she pushes for the first time. "Fuck!" She screams out. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Get this kid out of me! Get him the fuck out of me!"

"I can't, you need to do it. Push again, Florence." She shakes her head and begins to cry.

"No, I can't, it hurts too much..."

"Come on, dear, push again; bring our child into this world." She looks up at Ivan and nods.

"Alright... alright..." she takes in a few deep breaths and then begins to push once more. I watch her. I wish Rosemarie was like this, I don't know what I thought about her and children. I don't know how I thought she would react... I wish we had talked about it before hand. When the baby is finally out and Florence is holding her I can't stop smiling. The two of them look so happy, so happy to be together with their child. I decide to leave them alone. I leave the bedroom and go to where Rosemarie is. She is sitting down on the couch.

"They look so happy, yes it was painful for Florence, but she's so happy to be with her child." I hear a pained yell upstairs and then hear the baby begin to cry. I look down at Rosemarie for a moment and then run upstairs to see what's happening.

"What's going on with her?" Ivan asks as he holds his son in his arms. "Doctor!"

"I don't know..." He says. He looks up at Ivan and then back at Florence as she lies on the bed, eyes wide open. The doctor is leaning over her, trying to help her. I don't know what's going on.

"Ivan what's going on?" I ask him. He looks up at me for a moment and then down at his wife.

"I don't know... doctor..." He checks her pulse and then presses his head to her chest. After he does this he stands up and stares down at Florence for a long minute before looking up at Ivan.

"Sir... I'm so sorry... she's gone."


	31. Chapter 31

**The Year 1918**

**September 1st**

I hold Ivan and Florence's child in my arms as Ivan is in his office. The doctor left, Florence's body is upstairs, Rosemarie is in the bathroom, puking. I hear a hit the wall in Ivan's office upstairs, a loud one. Then something shatters. Cursing. The baby begins to cry and I stand up, gently moving him, trying to calm in.

"Shh... shh... it's alright... everything's alright..." Eventually he begins to cool down; when he does there is another loud bang from upstairs so he starts up again. Rosemarie comes into the room as I try to calm him down once more.

"I can't believe she passed." Rosemarie says as she sits down on the couch. "I can't believe it..." She places her hands onto her stomach and takes in a deep breath.

"Rosemarie, this only happens on occasion, a woman dying from childbirth... this isn't going to happen to you, you're immortal."

"I know but..." she doesn't finish when there is another smash and shatter sound from upstairs."I can't even imagine how Ivan is feeling right now."

I can. He feels just like I did when Rosemarie died, but he's acting differently. I mourned and layed with her body, Ivan is violent. I can't let this baby be around Ivan right now. "Take him please." I tell Rosemarie. She takes the baby boy and I go up to Ivan's office. I walk inside and see that it's a mess. He's sitting down in a corner of the office and his head is in his knees.

"Ivan..." he looks up at me, face angered, tears staining his face."Would you like Rosemarie and I to watch your child while you get over Florence's... passing." He watches me for a long moment and then nods.

"Please... please... thank you." I nod.

"Call us when you're ready." He nods and then rests his head onto his knees again. "Your baby will be safe with us." He doesn't look up. I leave the office and go downstairs to the living room where Rose is holding the baby boy. He's calm, sleeping in her arms. "Roza, it's time to go home." She looks up at me and then nods. I take the baby from her arms and wrap a blanket around her. We get on our coats and then leave back to our home.

**September 2nd, early in the morning**

I awaken to a gently crying. I get out of the bed and walk to the living room on the first floor. Rosemarie is standing there, in her dressing gown and robe, holding the little baby boy in her arms, soothing him, I watch as he stops crying.

"There we go... you're alright... you're going to be just fine..." Rosemarie kisses his small little head and I smile. She sits down on the couch and gently rests him on her. I walk into the room and sit down besides her. She turns her head towards me and gives me a small smile.

"See, you're amazing with children." She looks down at him and then up at me.

"I guess I am..."

"There was no reason to be so nervous Roza, you are naturally a mother. You naturally have those motherly instincts. When we have our child, you will be the most amazing mother in the world. I kiss her temple and then look down at the little baby.

"Will Ivan be ok?" She asks me. For a long time I don't answer. "I don't know, Roza, I truly don't... I hope so; this little boy needs his father."

"He does..."

**September 10th**

I walk into Ivan's house a little after a week since his son was born and he lost his wife. I walk up to his office and walk inside, he's still in the same area where he was the night I left, but now he's laying down on his side, staring at the wall.

"Ivan..." He rolls onto his side and looks at me.

"Go away."

"No, Ivan, I lost Rose before, and you told me that I couldn't act like I did, and when I said something around the lines, how would you act if it were Florence, you told me that you wouldn't stop living. Wouldn't cut yourself off from the world. Well that's exactly what you are doing right now. You need to stop, get your fucking ass up, and take care of your son. I don't mind watching over him, neither does Rose, but that little boy needs his father. He needs you. Ivan you are a father now, you will always miss your wife, but you need to take care of your son. You need him, he needs you. Get up, come to my house, and meet your son." He stares up at me.

"Can I have an hour to get ready?"

"No, you can't. Get up now. We're going over to my house, you can get ready there." He nods and I walk closer to him. He takes my hands and I pull him up from the ground. He throws his arms around me and I hold him tightly.

"I can't believe she's gone." He says as he begins to tear up, voice cracking. "I can't believe she's gone... I miss her so much."

"I know... I know you do..."

**A short time later**

"He's beautiful..." Ivan says as he holds his son. "I didn't get a good look at him after he was born because I was too concerned about Florence... he looks so much like her."

"She does." I say as I sit down besides him.

"I'm sorry you had to watch him. I know the two of you need to focus on getting your house ready for your own baby."

"Its fine, Ivan, we enjoyed watching him even though the circumstances aren't good. Rose now has more confidence about being a mother."

"That's good." I nod.

"Yes, it is."

"Dimitri...?"

"Yes?"

"How did you get Rose back?"

"You know how I got Rose back."

"I don't want to have to work with the Devil; I don't want to make any deals with him. I just want my wife back... I'm going to bring her back."


	32. Chapter 32

**The Year 1918**

**September 14th**

"What if the baby catches the influenza?" Rosemarie asks me as we sit in the nursery that we are preparing, hands resting on her stomach. "What would we do? I can't watch my child die."

"The baby won't catch the influenza, he or she is immortal. They will be prone to sickness." She nods and lets out a small sigh. Ivan's little boy who still has not been named begins to cry and Rose rises from her seat, she walks over to the crib and lifts him out of it. While she soothes him I think about what color we should paint the walls of the nursery. Not pink or blue since we don't know if we are having a boy or girl. Maybe a light beige color with simple furniture and when we find out what we're having we can decorate further on from there. I take in a deep breath and then turn towards Rosemarie. "I wish you weren't so stressed out Roza, there is no need to be."

She doesn't reply. The baby stops crying and she sets him down. "I can't help it; my hormones are everywhere right now... I'm sorry." I walk over to her and place my hand on her cheek.

"It's alright, love, just don't be so concerned about everything, I will take care of most of your concerns. I will. Do you trust me?" She nods.

"Yes. I trust you." I smile and kiss her forehead.

"Good, now, why don't you go get some well needed rest, you've been up all night with Ivan's son." She nods, hands me the baby, tells me she loves me and then goes to the bedroom. While she sleeps I leave the house and go to Ivan's house. Florence's body is still there, rotting. I don't fight him, there is no hope if I do, he'll do what he wants, and what he wants is his wife back. When I walk inside I can sleep Florence's rotting flesh, it smells like it did after Rosemarie passed. As I think about her being dead, I feel an ache in my chest. I can't imagine her being dead, not again, I can't go through that again. It'd kill me...

**A Day after Rosemarie Died**

I knew that when she was diagnosed with the flu that she wouldn't live, that'd she'd die in a short period of time and that I wouldn't be able to help her though her pain. It hurt to look at her, she paled, became thinner. I just wish I was here for her last breath, I should have been here. She shouldn't have had to die alone. I watch her limp body as she lies in the bed, soulless. Why did God take her from me... why?

It doesn't matter now; I'm going to be going her soon, hopefully. I can't live without her. I can't. She's been the center of my World for eighteen years, she's what made things good, not so hard. I tie the rope tighter around the bar; I turn the bottom of the rope into a hole, large enough for me to put my head through. After that I turn the safety off of my gun. I set two knifes down besides each other on a towel. These are the best ways to do this, the only things I can think about that might possibly work.

I'm going to kill myself. Rosemarie is gone, why can't I be as well? I dress up in the tux I was going to wear for mine and Rosemarie's wedding. I walk out to her body; kiss her pale, cold lips.

"I love you, Roza, I'll see you soon."

**Present**

Hanging didn't work, just suffocate me to the point of passing out. When I awoke I tried with the knifes. When I decided that it would take too long to bleed out, that I couldn't wait this long to be with her, I used the gun. It didn't work.

I'm glad now that it didn't work, if it had Rosemarie wouldn't be alive, we wouldn't be married, and we wouldn't be expecting.

I walk up into the bedroom and see Ivan besides his deceased wife, she's dressed in a beautiful gown, and it's orange. I think this is the first thing Ivan saw her in. It has sentimental value. He's preparing to bring his wife back from the dead. I watch as he does so.

"I'm ready." Ivan tells me after setting down a bottle of spices. "I'm ready to bring my wife back, after it works, I can name my child. Take him off of your hands."

I nod. "And if it doesn't?"

"I don't know... this has to work... it has too."

* * *

**Sorry this is so short, I'm writing this in science class, I just finished my work and we're allowed to use the computers when we're done. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

**-Rosemarie Alanna**


	33. Chapter 33

**The Year 1918**

**September 14th**

He finished doing whatever he wanted to do to her. He's now waiting in the bedroom, waiting for any results that may happen within the next twenty four hours.

**A Week Later**

Rosemarie gently rocks back and forward in a rocking chair in our soon-to-be born child's nursery. Rosemarie is almost five months pregnant, neither of us can wait to finally have our little boy or girl. But in the meantime, we're busy raising Ivan's child. We haven't seen him since he tried to bring Florence back... we don't know if it worked or not. I watch Rosemarie as she holds him close to her.

"He's so beautiful." I smile at her and nod.

"He is... but nothing will be able to compare to the child we will bring into this world." I say as I kneel down in front of her, her stomach has become slightly bigger and I love to move my hands over it. She grins and looks down at me. Rosemarie has become more at ease with the fact that we are having a baby. She's happy, more prepared, and happy. She's happy to soon have a baby. Become a mother.

"Dimitri, will you please get me a glass of milk?" She asks me. "I'm feeling a little parched."

I nod and smile. "Of course baby," I kiss her forehead and leave the bedroom for the kitchen. I pour her glass and then begin to walk to the room where I left her. I'm so excited for our child. I wonder if it will be a girl or boy, like me or Rose. I hope he or she is like Rosemarie, sarcasm. Even though it can get old and be harsh at times, I like the she has the spunk to talk to me that way. Beside's, she's funny. I smile and take a step up one stair. A scream rips through the air and the moment I hear it I drop the glass and run to the nursery.

"Roza!" I yell as I rush into the nursery. I stop instantly as I see Rose in the arms of my best friend. I watch Ivan as he holds a knife to Rose's throat.

"Ivan..."

"Dimitri... I'm so sorry..."

"W-what are you doing?"

"It didn't work... it didn't work and I was desperate..."

"What are you talking about Ivan? What did you do?" I ask him. Rosemarie is watching me with worried eyes.

"Dimitri..." she starts but Ivan stops her.

"Dimitri, I made an agreement with the Devil..."

"No!" I instantly say. "Ivan... what was the agreement? What the hell did you do?"

"He said that if I bring him Rosemarie he'd bring Florence back for me. No strings attached. Her for my wife." Tears run from Rosemarie's face and she shakes her head.

"Ivan... no, please, there's another way. There must be!"

"There isn't Dimitri! There isn't! I need my wife! She needs to be here with me, with our son!"

"Ivan don't do this! Rosemarie is my wife, she is pregnant with my child, you so of a bitch, let her go!" I yell at my best friend. "How could you do this? Bring the pain that you feel onto me?"

"I'm sorry Dimitri... but I need my wife..." Ivan drops the knife from Rosemarie's throat and then before I can run to him, get her out of his hold, they are gone.

"Ivan!" I yell. "You son of a bitch! I will get her back! I will not loose her again!"

**Almost a Week Later**

"Raziel, hello." I say as I welcome my old friend into my house. We first met in hell, I took his place in the torture area of hell and he was promoted. We never stopped having contact, even after I was banished. He'll help me, I know he will.

"Hello old friend," he says as he removes his coat, I take it from him and hang it up. "What can I help you with?"

"My wife, I answer, the devil has my wife... again."

He raises his brow and then wraps his arms over his chest. "Rosemarie?"

"Yes... you've seen her?"

"Yes... I have..."

"Is she ok?" I ask him. "Our baby... is he or she alright?"

"I'm not sure, I saw her the first night when she was brought, I was not aware that she was your wife because I had never seen her before due to now having been able to go to the wedding... I never saw her again; I'm not sure if she is alright or not... why was she there?"

"Ivan, his wife died during child birth and he couldn't bring her back so he made a deal with the Devil, his wife's life for my wife... Ivan hasn't come back yet, I go to his house every few hours to see if he has returned... I need your help bringing my wife back... please, Raziel. I love her."

"I know you do..." he puts out his hand."Now... let's go to Ivan's... I know where he's moved... let's go." I take his hand and we teleport to where Ivan has moved.

It's Russia. He's moved to Russia, I shouldn't be surprised. I swear when I see him... that bastard.

Raziel are outside of a small, old looking house. I look towards him and he nods. We're ready to invade. The two of us make our way to the door and he unlocks it by simply moving his hand over the lock. He opens the door and we walk inside. It's silent, and then a baby cries. In an instant I run to the cry, I burst through a door and see Florence holding her crying son, ready to nurse. She gasps and looks up at the two of us.

"Dimitri..."

"Florence!" I hear Ivan yell as he runs up stairs and into the room from a different door. I look towards him.

"You should have known I wouldn't just let you take her without fighting." I tell him. "Now, take me to my wife."

"Or what?" In the blink of an eye Raziel has Florence in his arms, the baby is in the crib and a knife is pointed towards her heart.

"You wouldn't!"

"He would." I answer. "You did the same to my wife... take me to her! She's five months pregnant... take me to her!"

"Dimitri... you don't remember, during this time the underworld works faster... months has passed there. Four to be exact."


	34. Chapter 34

**I am sorry for the shortness and pace of the previous chapter, I was writing in a hurry and needed to get the chapter out quickly. And I also re-uploaded the chapter with better grammar.**

* * *

**The Year 1918**

**September 21st**

"Take me to her."

"I can't!" Ivan yells as I press him up against the wall.

"You can and you will, yours sick son of a bitch! Take me to my damn wife!"

"What are you talking about?" Florence asks us. I look towards her and then back at Ivan.

"You haven't told her? Well, I think she deserves to know what you did to my wife. To my child. It's been four months there! Rosemarie is in her ninth month! She most likely already had our baby! My child was born in hell!" I slam him up against the wall and he grunts loudly.

"Dimitri," Raziel says. "Stop this. This will get us no where, now let's go. I can take you to Rosemarie, possibly. I can at least take you to hell."

I look towards him and then nod. I slam Ivan once more against the wall and let him drop. "If it were Rosemarie, and the Devil asked me to do what you did to my wife and child, I never would. You were my best friend... now you are nothing to me. And you never will be again."

"I didn't mean to hurt you..." He says in a small voice. I glare at him and shake my head.

"What did you expect was going to happen? You stole my wife and child from me."

"What?" Florence yells. "Ivan... what did you do?"

I don't have time to see what happens due to Raziel placing his hand onto my shoulder and taking me to hell. It's hot, dirty, and horrible. The area I'm in is horrible. I remember this place well. I wished to never be back here."

"He's keeping my wife here?" I ask. "In this area?"

"No, this is just an entrance to the area he's keeping her in."

I let out a gasp as someone grabs my arm and pulls me down to themselves. I know look down at Mortica. The Devil's little playmate. But she no longer is dressed in the best of clothes; she no longer has her looks.

"You!" She spats out.

"Mortica... what has happened to you?" I ask her, pulling away.

"The Devil found out I was playing around with people other then him... and then he found out I tried to fuck you... that's when he got... _her_."

"Her? Rosemarie?" I ask her. Her face twists in disgust and she nods.

"That little pregnant whore..."

"Pregnant? She's still pregnant?" I ask her.

"Last time I saw her she was. That was a few months ago though..."

"Why does he want her? Why does the Devil want her?"

"He wants her as his new whore, as soon as the babies out of her damn womb he's going to take her." She smirks. "Hard."

I glare down at her and then push her down back to the dark cold ground. I throw her hand off me and look towards Raziel who is still watching the woman.

"Where is Rosemarie being kept?" He asks her. When she doesn't answer he grabs her hair and lifts her up slightly. "Where is she damn it?"

Mortica blinks a few times. "She's being kept in the upper level of the Devil's palace. She might have been moved, but I don't think so." Raziel releases her and then looks towards me. He sticks out his hand and I take it. He chants a few words and the next thing I know we're in the palace again. Due to being in the upper level of the food chain in the underworld, Raziel has access to the palace, every floor. We're at the top, and the moment we are I'm running towards the room I think Rosemarie is in. It's the only room on the floor. I get to the door and kick it open. I step inside and stop when I see her.

**1906**

**December**

I hold Rosemarie close to me, her little body is wrapped in a blanket, but I can still feel her warm body through it. I look down at the little girl in my arms and smile. I still can't believe I'm raising this little girl. This beautiful little baby girl. I kiss her forehead and she stirs gently in my arms. Rosemarie opens her big brown eyes and looks up at me for a long time before smiling and making an adorable little sound that makes me grin.

**Present Day**

Back then I had no idea that I would soon marry that little baby girl, and have a child with her. A still unborn child. I watch Rosemarie in shock as she lies on the bed, looking ready to pop. The moment she hears the door open she looks towards me and a small smile moves onto her face and a tear runs down her cheek.

"Dimitri..."

"Roza..." I rasp out before running towards her and the bed. I sit down besides her and place my hand onto her large stomach. "Oh God... how far in are you?"

"I'm a week late..." She answers before placing her hand onto my cheek. "God the baby's ready... I can't have the baby here... I can't!"

"I know, and you won't." I tell her. I place my hand onto her stomach and feel the baby's kicking. "I'll have Raziel take you back to the human world... then I'll take care of Lucifer."

"Dimitri... you need to be there. You need to be there when I have the baby. I can't do this without you!"

"I know baby, and you won't." I kiss her forehead and then call Raziel. He's in the room in an instant and is holding her hand.

"Take her to a hospital; she's ready to have our child. I'll be there as soon as I can." Raziel nods and I kiss Rosemarie once more before he transports her out of this hell.


	35. Chapter 35

**The Year 1918**

**September 22nd**

Bits and pieces is all I remember. Bits and pieces of what happened that night. The night I got back my Roza... the night I defeated Lucifer. I remember walking into the throne room, seeing him there, and then running. Then it's black. Then I remember again, we fought. Oh, we fought. I was severely wounded by the end, but I was the winner.

_"You took her from me twice now; you made my best friend steal her from me. Take my child from me!" I scream as I throw the Devil to the wall. I punch him hard, and hear his nose break, it re-heals instantly. The Devil smirks at me and I glare at him._

_"I couldn't wait to take her, as soon as that little bastard of yours was out of her; I was going to make her my little whore. I would fuck her all hours of the day... and I still will." He hisses. "You won't win this Dimitri... and as soon as your dead, and Rosemarie is done with labor, she'll be mine."_

Dark hazel brown colored hair, soft, clear, slightly tanned skin. So small... so, so small. Smaller then Rosemarie, then again, I did get her when she was older then the little child on my arms. I look up at my wife as Vera presses a cloth to her forehead, her eyes are closed, and sweat covers her. She's not asleep, simply resting for a moment. Rosemarie's labor took almost twenty-four hours. It was more then enough time for me to make it back to her before the baby was born. I got here during the last twelve hours. Raziel couldn't take her to the hospital, but instead took her to our home. He called Vera and our personal doctor. They came down as soon as they could and helped her. Rosemarie and I now have a beautiful day year old boy. We have yet to decide what to name him... he was born less then five minutes ago and Rosemarie's pain is now fading. Due to her being immortal now, her body is healing much faster, she should be back to the state she was before she even became pregnant. Vera looks up at me as I hold my son and smiles.

"He's simply beautiful, Dimitri." I smile and nod.

"He is, isn't he? He looks like his mother." I see a small smile move onto Rosemarie's face. Rosemarie's eyes slowly open and she looks up at me.

"Has he opened his eyes yet?" She asks. I shake my head.

"Not yet,"

"I'm surprised he's so calm." Vera says as he looks down at Rosemarie and places the wet cloth to her forehead once again.

"He's like his father like that..." Rosemarie says with a small smile. She gently sits up in bed, the doctor helps her, and then she looks towards me and puts out her arms. "May I please have my baby boy?"

I smile and nod before walking to the bed and handing her out little boy. She smiles and takes him gently into her arms. "Oh God... oh, Dimitri, he's so small..."

"He is." I say as I sit down on the bed besides her. Rosemarie gently places her lips onto our sons head and then grins.

"Was I this small?"

"At one point you were... not when I had you though, you were slightly larger." She doesn't look up at me.

"What should we name him?" Rosemarie asks. I don't answer her right away.

"I don't know... lets talk about names we like, names we think would fit him." She nods and kisses our son once more.

"Dimitri..." she looks up at me."Will we be safe? From him... will we?"

I watch her for a moment. I wasn't able to tell her anything due to her being in labor. "Yes, we will be safe... we will be..."

"How do you know?" She asks me.

"I know this because... because I killed him, Rosemarie. Lucifer can no longer hurt us, or anyone else for that matter, we are safe."

**September 23rd**

Misha. We've named our son Misha.

He's only a day old. Still, he has changed our lives. We can barely get any sleep, not because of his crying and things of the sort, but because we're both scared for him, we know he can't be hurt, physically, but we're nervous about how to raise him. I can raise a child, I've raised Rosemarie and I believe I did a pretty good job, but I'm not sure how it's going to be raising a boy. A son. Things will defiantly be different. All night Rosemarie was up, worrying. She's thankful to have our little boy with us, thankful to not have to worry anymore, but she's still scared about things. She's once again scared around being a mother, but she's happy. So very happy. She told me that she was happy to have gotten pregnant, happy to have had our beautiful son and didn't know why she was so concerned. I'm so happy, things were hell, but I'm happy now... but I wish Ivan was still around, his son and Florence. I miss them, but I don't want them in my life. Not Ivan, not after what he did. I still hate him for what he did to my wife and child, I almost lost them.

I've thanked Raziel a million times it seems now... and I've thanked him in one large way... due to me having taken out Lucifer... I was supposed to take his place, or have someone else take it. I didn't want the job, didn't want my family to be around all of that pain and terror, so I gave the job to Raziel. He will do much better then Lucifer, he will be a better man, things will be better for everyone now that he has taken over hell.

My eyes snap open as I hear my son crying. I sit up in bed and see him in the same crib his mother used to sleep in when she was a child. I get out of the bed and pick Misha out of his crib. I hold him close to me and check to see what's wrong; as I do I get a glimpse of his eyes. Deep brown with light copper colored flecks. I smile and realize that he just got cranky. I sit down in the rocking chair and look down at my son as I try to sooth him.

I think things will be better from now on... they have to be because things can't be any worse then they were.


	36. Chapter 36

**The Year 1918**

**December 25th **

Misha laughs as he plays with the paper from his presents. Rosemarie smiles and looks up at me. I remember when she was a baby and how she loved the paper more then the gifts. Misha looks so much like his mother did, he looks more like her then me. I haven't spoken with Ivan since finding my wife. I don't plan on it anytime soon. I understand wanting his wife back, but ruining your best friends like in the process... horrible.

"I think it's time for bed little one, do you agree Rose?" I ask her as I rise from my seat. "I'm know I'm certainly ready."

Rosemarie sighs. "Can he sleep with us tonight? Please?"

"Rosemarie, he can't always sleep with us."

"But I want him to sleep with us. Please, Dimitri, I want him to sleep with us tonight, please?"

A small sigh leaves me. Over these few months I've learned that Rosemarie will most likely spoil Misha rotten. She already does. Misha sleeps with us almost every night. He needs to learn not too because he can't forever.

"This is the last night."

"Thank you honey," Rosemarie rises from where she sits with our small son in her arms and we move upstairs to our bedroom. I actually had plans for tonight, after putting our son to bed Rosemarie and I would go to bed and have a romantic night together. We haven't had any sexual relations since having our son. I wish to bring sex back into our lives. Looks like that will have to wait for another date.

**January First **

"I love you so much, Misha. Be good for Uncle Christian and Auntie Lissa." Rosemarie says as she gently kisses our four month old sons head. Tonight he will be spending the night at Lissa's and Christian's. Tonight is finally the night my wife and I can sleep together for the first time in a very long time. I place my hands onto her shoulders and she straightens up, staring down at him. "I'm going to miss him so much..."

"I will too, but it's only for a day, less." She looks up at me and nods.

"I know... bye baby..."

"Thank you again," I tell our two friends as we leave their home. Rosemarie and I go to our car and drive back to our home. The two of us walk up to our bedroom. She plops down onto the bed and looks up at me.

"I miss him."

"I know you do love," I sit down besides her. "Now, undress, relax, and I'll be right back."

I kiss her temple and then leave the room. I go down to the kitchen and grab the food that I have prepared for us. I take the tray of food up and the bottle of wine. Red. When I walk inside Rosemarie is sitting down on the bed, dressed in her undergarments, hair still in a bun. She smiles when she sees me. I set the tray down in front of her and sit down besides her. I remove it and she smiles when she sees her favorite meal. She's loved this ever since she was a child. She grins and kisses me before digging in. The two of us enjoy our meal with our wine and then desert. By the time we're done, she's relaxed about our son not being in the home with us.

I scoop her up into my arms and carry her to the master bathroom. I set her down and start up a hot bath with bubbles and rose petals. She removes her undergarments and after the bath is drawn I remove my own. The two of us get into the bath and sit down besides each other. I wrap my arm around her and pull her body to mine. Her bun has begun to fall and I pull the ribbon out, letting her dark curls fall.

"You are so beautiful my love." I whisper before kissing her. She wraps her arms around me and we fall slightly under the water. Our bodies are pressed together, wet.

"I love you Dimitri."

"I love you too baby." The two of us spend a few more minutes in the tub before I wrap my arms under her legs and lift her up; I step out and set her down on her feet. I wrap a towel around her and dry her off. I dry off afterwards and we go into the bedroom. She lies on the bed and I lay on top of her. My hands begin to palm her breasts and I feel myself becoming harder.

"Dimitri, I missed you."

"Mm?"

"I missed you, missed having you touch me like this. Love me like this." I look up at her and smile.

"Oh baby, it's my pleasure." I whisper before moving down her body and spreading her lower lips. I wrap my lips around her clit and she moans, arching up. It doesn't take long to bring her to an orgasm. After she does she rolls me over and places her hands onto my shoulders.

"Dimitri, do you mind?"

"Mind that you're straddling me, about to thrust onto me... no." She smiles and nods before thrusting her wet sheath onto my cock. I thrust upwards and we moan in sync. I place my hands onto her hips and we begin to make love for the first time in a long time. It's fantastic, even better then I remembered. Rosemarie comes, tightening around my cock, taking me higher. I roll us and begin thrusting inside her hard and fast, and then finally, for the first time in a long time, I come. I roll off of Rosemarie's body and pull her into my arms.

"We're going to have to do this again." She says against my skin. I chuckle and kiss her temple.

"Oh Roza, we wi-"I'm cut off by the phone going on. Rosemarie moves from my arms and takes the phone.

"Hello?" Rosemarie asks. "What? How bad is it? Okay, we'll be there soon."

She hangs up and gets out of the bed. "What's going on?"

"Misha has a fever; we have to go get him. Now."


End file.
